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Navigating Pop Culture Conventions

August 5, 2022 · Discuss on the GT Forum

https://media.blubrry.com/happypod/media.transistor.fm/25bda948/39ac614b.mp3

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#30: Pop culture conventions, where fans and geeks gather to celebrate their fandoms, are often the most anticipated experiences of the year. This year, Stef and Ariel were blessed with the opportunity to speak as panelists at both WonderCon and the mega San Diego Comic-Con. In this episode, they share the ups and downs of navigating pop culture conventions.

Read the blog post for this episode for additional references and resources.

Become a member of Geek Therapy on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/geektherapy

Transcription

Stefanie Bautista 0:10
Hello, everyone, welcome to the Happiest Pod on Earth. I’m Stef and educator who uses her passions and fandoms to help her students grow and learn about themselves and the world around them.

Ariel Landrum 0:21
And I’m Ariel, I’m a licensed marriage and family therapist who uses clients passions and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma and mental unwellness.

Stefanie Bautista 0:29
And here at Happiest Pod, we dissect Disney mediums with a critical lens.

Ariel Landrum 0:33
Why? Because we are more than just fans, we expect more from the mediums we consume. So Stef, what Disney Experience are we discussing today?

Stefanie Bautista 0:40
So it’s been a while since we’ve, you know, recorded and we’ve gotten back into the game. I know, as we always say, in our practices, mental health is number one. So we decided to take a little break for ourselves pay attention to what we need, the things that we need to do on our lives. But we went back into it full force with conventions. So it’s not necessarily a specific Disney experience. I think this is more of it encompasses everything that has to do with all geekiness all nerdiness anything fandom, definitely Disney is a big driving force in a lot of these things, because of all of its franchise acquirements. But conventions is our topic today. And we have done a lot of conventioning, haven’t we?

Ariel Landrum 1:27
Yes, yes. We have gone to a lot of conventions, I think maybe more you than me. Because I went to WonderCon and Comic-Con.

Stefanie Bautista 1:36
Yes. And I went to Anime Expo, which is one more than you.

Ariel Landrum 1:39
Yeah. And then we didn’t do Midsummer Scream because that’s always right after Comic-Con and I need like a break. And we are I know that both of us are going to try D23.

Stefanie Bautista 1:51
Yes, we are going to try with all of our minds and all of our Disney magic to do that. Because as you all have probably been seeing a lot of these in person conventions are coming back for the first time in 2022. So many people are eager, they’re willing to come back to the convention space to be with their communities, and also be with their tribes basically. And so what we’re finding is that a lot of these conventions are selling out. I know for myself, when I was preparing for Anime Expo this year, I did not realize that I was going to see many posts on Instagram saying they were sold out which is beyond anything that I’ve ever experienced before. I mean, for all of you con convention goers you all know that these things never sell out.

Ariel Landrum 2:35
I mean, with the exception of San Diego Comic-Con

Stefanie Bautista 2:37
With the exception of the big one. These almost never sell out. They’re usually still very niche communities that come together cosplay. But I think over the pandemic with the releases of so many platforms and so much accessibility to content. We’re just getting fans from everywhere. And it’s not a niche community anymore. As they say it’s cool to be a nerd now, right?

Ariel Landrum 3:02
It’s cool to be part of the geeky community.

Stefanie Bautista 3:05
It is it is so yeah, we attended quite a bit of conventions. We went into it. I know, both me and Ariel had been a little hesitant to be in the public space, especially since you know we are still in the middle of a pandemic. But we have been given some great opportunities, right?

Ariel Landrum 3:20
Absolutely. So So previously, before the pandemic, we would go to conventions every year, and on a different platform that’s been archived we actually went as press. And then even before that we were attendees. And even before that, I worked as a booth babe, which is somebody who passes out free things and stuff.

Stefanie Bautista 3:37
Ohh! Booth babe! Booth babe! I did not do that. I was always an attendee.

Ariel Landrum 3:43
So we have had many types of experiences of the convention. I think, the only experience that we haven’t had is being an exhibitor. I haven’t.

Stefanie Bautista 3:51
Yes.

Ariel Landrum 3:52
You?

Stefanie Bautista 3:53
But accidentally you were going to be an exhibitor this year at Comic-Con, right?

Ariel Landrum 3:56
Yes. And the other new experience that we had at WonderCon. And Comic-Con was we were panelists.

Stefanie Bautista 4:03
Yes. And I feel for us, it was just like a dream come true. I never thought that we would be at the level at this stage of I guess, in our geekiness that we would be presenting topics that people really wanted to hear about connecting with people who think just like us and share the same passions and fandoms as us and having some really meaty and meaningful conversations that lasts beyond the 45 minutes that they allow us to have.

Ariel Landrum 4:32
Yes. Being a volunteer or working at a booth working it’s essentially a W2 two or 1099 job you have to apply. When it comes to being a volunteer you also have to apply but usually volunteers. If you particularly San Diego Comic-Con because it’s so big. If you apply early and get approved, then you get passes for the whole shebang. So you end up not having to pay but you have to be prepared to work you have to be Be prepared to answer a lot of questions about the convention floor where things are about the panel’s. Really good volunteers who get chosen again next year are ones that create that connection and do the deep dive to learn about the convention and its size and where to walk around. But when it comes to doing something like press, being a professional, doing a panel, that’s it’s a whole other bar, where you have to, like, fill out paperwork, do a proposal. And when we had done it for press, you had to prove that you had a following you had people reading your content, or if you’re a podcaster, are listening to your podcast, or, you know, watching your YouTube channel, if you were saying that you were public, like a publication of some sort, you have to prove that. So for anybody who wants to have a press pass, if you don’t already work at a…

Stefanie Bautista 4:35
Like an established publication…

Ariel Landrum 4:48
You have to be willing to put in the work to make your own which means consistency, because that’s usually what garners the most attention.

Stefanie Bautista 6:02
Yes, definitely. And with those different levels, it’s kind of like, as an attendee, yes, you want to have fun a little bit. But when you have a purpose there, it’s all of a sudden, a different game, you have to make sure that you’re working having trying to have fun at the same time. But also, knowing that you have a responsibility there and knowing that you have to have a game plan coming in. Because when you’re making that jump from attendee to either volunteer or attendee to even press, you have to make sure that you’re getting what you need to get done. Because as you all know, who do attend conventions, the day just slips by, and it goes by so fast, and all of the sensory overload all of just the people overload, everything just kind of ends up getting in the way. So I know for myself making the jump from attendee to at least press, I had to, like totally prepare myself in a different mindset. I know for sure, I didn’t want to be a volunteer, because I didn’t want to work. I wanted to have fun. I didn’t want to work. But this type of work was a little bit different, because then I could put my perspective on things. But I did run into the problem of gathering all that information into a digestible way. And putting all of those things because there’s a lot you’re looking at a lot of things, a lot of things are being thrown at you, you’re experiencing a lot of different like either panels, Artist Alley, all that stuff. And then to be able to condense all of that information into something that’s digestible is not easy for a lot of people to do. So, like Ariel said, there’s many different avenues to be part of what is essentially a convention, but you just have to find the one that works the best for you.

Ariel Landrum 7:42
And burst a little bit of a bubble. Just because you get the press pass doesn’t mean that you get access to all of the things. There are even tiers, if it is a bigger convention, like San Diego Comic-Con, sometimes press gets special seating, but at smaller conventions, they don’t get preference in seating at panels. And they don’t get to automatically interview whoever they want. Obviously, larger press publications will get access to celebrities to be able to do sit downs, and Q and A’s. Whereas general press that comes from like blogs or YouTube channels that aren’t well established, but are still enough following that they can get a press pass, you’re probably just going to be able to just attend for free, which you know, is a money saver. So it’s not something to sneeze at. But don’t step into wanting to do those things thinking, “I’m going to now have these magic doors open to all of these and I get I get to meet like my you know, Chris Evans?”

Stefanie Bautista 8:39
Yes. Don’t think because you have a press faster, you’re automatically going to be IGN. And then you’re going to just give a sit there and people come to you. That’s not how it works. Although that would be great. That is definitely not how it works.

Ariel Landrum 8:53
We did press and we talked about being a volunteer and certainly being attendee is you just enjoying yourself. And we will focus on the attendee experience in a little bit, because that’s going to be everyone’s more general experience. But the next thing is being sometimes what they call a professional and the professional are usually individuals who get to be on a panel. Who either are running or moderating the panel, or are the key panelists in either a workshop or q&a format. And that was the the new thing that Stef and I were able to do this year starting with WonderCon and which is the sister convention of Comic-Con, so a little bit smaller, known as like the TV convention around here and is in Anaheim. And then we actually were able to because of that score, doing a panel at San Diego Comic-Con like the mothership of all geeky conventions.

Stefanie Bautista 9:49
Yes. And I think because there are sister conventions like that that is a way to get into the big leagues, right. I didn’t really think of it at first because is when we were at WonderCon, I was like, “Oh, this is it. We made it ya’ll.”

Ariel Landrum 10:03
“We don did it!”

Stefanie Bautista 10:05
“We don did it. We’re here in Anaheim, this is great.” Like, and they were coming out with so many cool things at WonderCon. Like people were actually like, bigger panels because I think I’ve only attended one or two WonderCons prior. And I think that was when Shazam first came out. And I remember this, like the size of it, because it was small, it wasn’t as overwhelming as Comi-Con, it was so much more accessible. And you know, of course, we’re next to Disneyland. So it’s always all good. And the people who normally would be Disney fans were there. So it felt a little bit more like home. We were, I felt very comfortable there. And I felt that it was a great foray into being a professional and a panelist because it didn’t feel foreign, even though we haven’t been in that space for a very long time.

Ariel Landrum 10:51
Well and then we’re talking about so for you and I, how the process went was we put in a proposal at WonderCon.

Stefanie Bautista 10:59
Months prior.

Ariel Landrum 11:01
Yeah, we put in, we put in each our own proposal, because what we’ve found out from peers who had done panels was that volunteers are the ones who look over the proposals, and they just get a pile. So we’re like, “Oh, well, we can increase our chances, if we each put one in. We didn’t think that they would both get chosen, where one of us had to do like you had to change the title of your panel and some of the goals.

Stefanie Bautista 11:26
And it was funny that I had to do that. And it was so nonchalant. They were just like, “You could just tweak it a little bit. And you know, we can we can accept it.” I’m like, “Oh, it’s that easy.”

Ariel Landrum 11:35
“It’s that easy?” And then we also had a friend Lorran, who also had a panel approved that she had asked me to be a part of and I was just like, “Oh, well, if our panels don’t get chosen, then maybe hers will.”

Stefanie Bautista 11:48
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 11:48
So I went from like thinking I’d be on one to being on three.

Stefanie Bautista 11:53
And you’re really only preparing to be on one because I mean as as an attendee, you don’t even think you’re gonna get to that level at that point, or like, “Why? Why would they choose me?”

Ariel Landrum 12:03
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 12:04
However, all these conventions, their goal is to connect with the people who love the content, right? Yes, they want to involve as much of the general public as possible. That’s what conventions thrive on. So knowing that they want to have real life people who can, you know, explain and talk about things that the general populace loves. So it is not that much of a surprise when you think about it from that perspective, because they do want a variety of programming. They just don’t want people going to a DC or Marvel or a Disney panel. They also want people who are consumers of this media, whatever platform you have, talking about why they love it, and in different angles too.

Ariel Landrum 12:46
And I think it’s worth it to note that a majority of these conventions, at least when it comes specifically to WonderCon and San Diego Comic-Con, they’re nonprofits, they’re huge. They look like they’re profitable. They’re nonprofits and, and not in their their mission statement involve education on pop culture media. So having panels that focus on learning about how to create a comic book learning about comic book law, learning about what it’s like to be a podcaster, learning how to voice act, all of those things are what make it rich. So for us, we we had three, I have three panels, Stef had two panels. And when we were chosen for our specific panels, we had to decide how we were going to do moderating, if it was going to be like co-moderating who we were going to have how we were gonna split it up. So the first panel was Lorran’s panel that I was a guest on and it was, Why Diverse Stories matter: Voices from the BIPOC LGBTQ+ Neurodiverse Community. And so the what we learned from Lorran, who had been doing panels at SDCC and WonderCon, consistently for a few years now, is that you want a variety of panelists, if yours isn’t niche, like we’re only talking about creating a comic book, then, you know, make it as diverse as possible. So she had actors, she had producers, she had comic book creators and graphic designers. So when we were thinking about the panelists for our panel, we had Coming Together on an Honoring AAPI Voices in Pop Culture, which was Stef’s panel, and then Celebrating AAPI Voices in Media, which was my panel, we wanted to do the same. So we had chosen panelists who were diverse in their professional background from our own.

Stefanie Bautista 14:39
Yep, exactly. And in doing those different types of panels, we had to make sure that the content had variety and that you know, we were attacking you know, the subject in different angles that were pretty much similar but a little bit different. And I think in crafting that it’s kind of like your writing up a podcast episode, or you’re writing up even just like a short essay, like, “How are we going to split up the subject in a meaningful way where everybody’s voices are heard?” And that is all dependent on your moderators, the people on the panel, their level of comfort of talking in front of an audience, because we also do want to honor that not everybody is great with public speaking, and they don’t have to be. And many of you know, the professionals that we had on our panel either had a lot of experience in that or maybe had little to no experience and that. For us, we were coming in as newcomers. So we are used to talking to each other on this podcasting, the resume, or also just talking with a bunch of friends. I think, finding the balance between those two is what we had to navigate and learn. And by the time that we did our San Diego Comic-Con panel, I feel like we kind of achieved a lot of the goals that we wanted to achieve. Because not only was the content, of course, all of our content, we love talking about all of it. But talking about different different subjects really impacts the flow of the panel and the flow of the conversation.

Ariel Landrum 16:09
And with our two specific panels being on the AAPI experience, the Asian American Pacific Islander experience, we had, of course, wanted panelists who were part of the community because it was meant to uplift the voices and celebrate the voices and honor the voices of our community. But we also wanted a diversity even in the AAPI. Oftentimes, you when you hear Asian American people immediately think of someone who’s East Asian. So we had a lot of Southeast Asians. And we didn’t have anybody who’s Desi or or Indian, but, you know, maybe something for the future. And we had a for my panel, a specific Creator, who was like, featured on all of the WonderCon like, advertising.

Stefanie Bautista 17:01
Yes.

Ariel Landrum 17:03
I was talking to her sway about like, I have to pick some people for a panelist and he was like, “Why don’t you just tweet at some people?”

Stefanie Bautista 17:10
Yeah. And honestly, that’s like, a felt like a reach for us. I remember when we were talking about it. We’re like, “Could we just try it?” And that is how we got Trung Le on our panel, because Ariel tweeted at him. And we’re not big tweeters, like, we’re not on Twitter all the time.

Ariel Landrum 17:28
Nope.

Stefanie Bautista 17:28
So this was totally like, shot in the dark.

Ariel Landrum 17:31
Yes. Yeah. And I did the same for our San Diego Comic-Con panel, which was titled,

Stefanie Bautista 17:40
“From the Screen to Your Plate: Food In Pop Culture.”

Ariel Landrum 17:42
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 17:43
I said it enough times.

Ariel Landrum 17:45
Yes. However, nobody responded to that. I was hoping Binging for Babish would want to be on. Or Feast of Fiction.

Stefanie Bautista 17:52
Or we got our panelists in very different ways for Comicon. And I think, see, and this is the power of the geek community and the power of our subject, which was food and pop culture, we were able to get some amazing artists and amazing collaborators, just by chance.

Ariel Landrum 18:15
Yes. Okay, okay, so for WonderCon I had asked individuals who I had known personally, they were my friends or individuals that Lorran knew. So these were these were all close friends and they had been on panels or her her friends had been on panels before. And then my my friends who was a psychologist and two app based creators, so they were in the graphic and and programming and web design art community. They were flying in from San Francisco, but they were someone that I had been collaborating with on creating apps. However, when it came to Comic-Con Stef and I did the divide and conquer where we both submitted proposals, we actually submitted five.

Stefanie Bautista 18:59
We did. Each.

Ariel Landrum 19:02
And with San Diego Comic-Con, only one got accepted. And even though we submitted the exact same thing with different names,

Stefanie Bautista 19:10
So we thought, “Oh, for sure, like our AAPI is gonna get picked for like something,” like because, okay, when we did the WonderCon panel, we had some meaningful conversation about what it is to be Asian American. I was like, I was so emotional, because I really feel like it’s a subject that I don’t get to talk about a lot, let alone with other female Asian American Pacific Islander creators, and to have a platform and to have people say, “Oh my gosh, I never thought that I would see like a whole full panel of female Asian American Pacific Islander creators and people who just liked the same things that I like, talk about what it is to see themselves represented in media.” That’s a deep topic y’all like 45 minutes could not contain the amount of knowledge and amount of just emotion and also real life situations that we could have dived into and we need like a part 1-234-567-8910 for it.

Ariel Landrum 20:02
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 20:04
So going into Comi-Con we’re like, “Oh, for sure that’s gonna get picked.”

Ariel Landrum 20:07
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 20:07
Of course, lo and behold, the one that gets picked is the one about food.

Ariel Landrum 20:10
Yes, yes. So, when we were coming up with ideas, we thought about a Geek Therapy one, we thought about different AAPI ones. And we did we did one on Disney princesses, which we presented before, The Evolution of the Disney Princess, and then we’re like, “Hey, I don’t like the number four. I want the number five.” Number four is bad luck anyway. So let’s do five. “What should we do? We’re like we food.”

Stefanie Bautista 20:36
And I was like, of course, we can do food, there is so much to be said about geeky food. And we are always at a pop up, or we are always going to a themed ice cream day. Or we’re always like ever since you mean, me and Ariel have been friends. We’ve been doing pop ups and like consuming all sorts of foods that are themed from the time that it existed. So we were like, “Okay, no brainer, let’s do this.” And we came up with like, a really quick description was the last one that we submitted. And of course, that is the one that got picked. And we’re like, “Okay, well, then our approach is going to be a little bit different because we don’t have to have super professionals on this panel. This is going to be a different approach from all the other panels that we’ve done.” Which is like four.

Ariel Landrum 21:18
Which is four.

Stefanie Bautista 21:19
Four.

Ariel Landrum 21:20
the the thing about the food panel and proposals in general to be a panelist or to host a panel, yes, is that you need to request months in advance. And so as soon as WonderCon ended, Stef and I just put in our paperwork for San Diego Comic-Con, simply because one, we knew we were going to be busy and we didn’t want to forget the deadline. And two, we were just fresh off of that like glow from a convention.

Stefanie Bautista 21:45
Oh for sure.

Ariel Landrum 21:45
And like we just wanted to get do all the things.

Stefanie Bautista 21:47
Oh, yeah.

Ariel Landrum 21:48
Do all the things.

Stefanie Bautista 21:48
We can conquer the world.

Ariel Landrum 21:49
Conquer the world. And we just need to harness that energy. And so it had been like two or three months had gone by before we even heard anything. And a whole other thing of a Vegas trip happened with me and my friend Malaysha. That’s that’s its own thing. But I met someone on the plane, who, Joon and he is a shoe designer, and was also like opening up a K-popcorn chicken restaurant with his cousin. And I was like, “Oh, hey, we I made a proposal with my friend to San Diego Comic-Con. Would you be interested in being a panelist if it got chosen? And we just like exchanged Instagram and that was a thing. Low and behold, four days later, that was the one that was chosen. I told him about it. And he was our first agreed upon panelists.

Stefanie Bautista 22:38
Our first agreed upon panelists and I happened to be in San Diego visiting family at that time. And I was like, “I wonder what happened to our proposal?” Because I am literally across the street from the convention center at the Children’s Museum with my family. And I was like, “I wonder if I just searched Comic-Con and they ever responded?” And there it was, we were approved earlier that day to have our food and pop culture panel and I told Ariel, she was like, “I already have a panelist!” And I was like, |Get out of here!” And so we’re like, “Oh my gosh, we’re actually doing this like this is actually happening!” And so we had Joon on board, we had our good friend chance on board…

Ariel Landrum 23:15
Which you may remember him from the villains episode.

Stefanie Bautista 23:18
Yes. Fantastic. Fantastic human being also goes with us to many, many pop ups and you know, loves to eat just like us. So we were like, “Okay, great. We have four people, but two of them are moderators. So we kind of need a little bit more.” So we were, you know, kind of searching through, you know, our network of people. And we knew that as Asian American Pacific Islanders, Filipino Americans specifically, we knew that there were a lot of great Filipino projects that were going on around, Lumpia With a Vengeance,” which is a Kickstarter movie that had a part one, but is now advertising a part two. And we met a lot of the really awesome people over at WonderCon ironically, because of Chance as well.

Ariel Landrum 24:00
Yes, it’s a Chance. So what we’ve learned about panelists setting up is it’s oftentimes who someone else knows.

Stefanie Bautista 24:06
Yes it is who someone else knows it. I mean, it truly goes back to it’s who you know. And in this industry, even though we don’t consider ourselves to be mega part of the entertainment industry, there is bits and pieces of that. And I think we can definitely say as geeky professionals, we are in that industry now. It is definitely who you know, and the people you want to support and with the platforms that you have. So definitely as Filipino Americans, we did want to uplift our kababayan which is our, you know, our kin, and pretty much have people that are represented because they have a lot of really great projects happening. Like I said they had a part one now they’re gonna have a part two.

Ariel Landrum 24:46
A comic.

Stefanie Bautista 24:47
Yeah, a comic book as well. And ironically, they were doing a screening at San Diego Comic-Con. So we were like, “Hey, let’s see if we can get somebody on board from their team.” I was linked up to their PR person who was amazing and awesome. And I didn’t realize that we also worked around the same area because I work in historic Filipino town in the daytime. And we were able to get a Earl Baylon, which is one of the he’s a voice actor, he is on Netflix. And he is also one of the producers for Lumpia with a Vengeance. So he is also a very big foodie. And he also had a podcast and a YouTube channel where they would recreate recipes, and he was a perfect fit. So he was our number three. Yes.

Ariel Landrum 25:29
When it comes to going to conventions, one of the things that Stef and I love the most as Artists Alley. We love celebrating people who are creative fans that recreate our fandom, and also incorporate their own culture, their history into their artwork. I remember that when when we went to WonderCon we stopped by a booth where I had bought a Jollibee pin.

Stefanie Bautista 25:56
Genevieve Santos, she’s amazing.

Ariel Landrum 26:00
And so in doing that, you start to make connections. And sometimes you become a fan of even these artists, like there are regular artists that I visit regularly. And then there are actual like artists creators, so I had like signed comic books at San Diego Comic-Con. So creating connections with them ends up being a vital part of the community development when you go to conventions.

Stefanie Bautista 26:22
Definitely. And also seeing like, your culture represented. I think there are so many of us AAPI creators that are really starting from the ground up because you know, we weren’t always encouraged as young kids to be artists and you know, to love what we do and, and also represent ourselves in our craft. So like Ariel said, we love going to Artists Alley because that is where the grassroots of fandom like pretty much start off. Because I I myself, I’m an avid pin collector, I love collecting pins. I have so many pins everywhere all at once.

Ariel Landrum 26:55
Disney pins specifically.

Stefanie Bautista 26:56
Disney pins Yep. Disney pin pins specifically Anime pins, all of it. And going to Artist Alley. So timeline goes we did WonderCon. Anime Expo was next that I only went to. And I decided to go with, of course my family and I also decided to bring my little niece with me because it was her first convention. And she dressed up as Nezuko. And there were like 1000 Other Nezukos out there from Demon Slayer because everybody loves Demon Slayer. And that was my day to chill. Because like Ariel said, we always try to now have a day where we buy a lot of stuff our day to chill our day to you know, be with family or be with friends, what have you. So we go to Artists Alley, but then that was our chill day without my niece and we were like let’s go and see what we can buy pin wise. I had just bought a new Ita bag. And for those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s a clear bag that you can basically display all of your pins and buttons on. And it’s kind of like a walking advertisement of you. And everything you love. So if you see somebody who likes like Anime or like something that is similar to you, you can strike up a conversation with them, be like, “Oh my god, I love your pin!” And that is part of community building. So Artists Alley this year is kind of like other years at Anime Expo where it’s located in the basement of the convention hall because it used to be a small part of the exhibit hall but it has grown so much because anime content creators are its own thing. And like all artists from all source all parts of the country come to Anime Expo to have a booth and people can buy their items and not have to pay for shipping. Or back then before shipping was even really a thing you could only find them in Artists Alley. That’s why that is one of my favorite things to go to Anime Expo because you’re not always going to find official Japanese merchandise at a price point that you can afford anywhere. So artists are really what saved the day. So I’m walking through these halls and it is the Saturday of convention it is the most packed it is almost near impossible to get through one aisle, let alone I think they had 10 aisles of Artists Alley because people are packed like sardines and I am here with a stroller. My son’s asleep thankfully my my husband goes out to use the restroom or whatever. And so I’m like inching my way I live this is like worse than a busy day at Disneyland. I have literally walking inches to get to the end of the hall. And I happen upon this. This booth that look like a little cafe. I love coffee y’all.

Ariel Landrum 29:29
Oh no, no wait. She loves coffee so much that the one we worked as baristas at Whole Foods. They made a large cardboard cutout of her that people would hide in the freezer of her loving her coffee.

Stefanie Bautista 29:40
Yes.

Ariel Landrum 29:40
She was the lead coffee specialist.

Stefanie Bautista 29:42
I was the lead coffee. I bought all the coffee there so I I knew all of the coffee bars and I was we were getting coffee for free all the time. It was good times. So I love coffee a lot and so this booth automatically catches my eye because it has little awning. It has like a little cute pin display. Bored. And I’m like browsing around as I do. And mind you, there are people everywhere. So I can’t even move at this point. So I have no choice but to look. And I see that they had little pins that looked a lot like soda in a bag. And for those of you who have visited Southeast Asia or any, anywhere in Asia, really, when you buy street food out there, soda doesn’t come in a can. It doesn’t come in a cardboard box, it comes in a bag.

Ariel Landrum 30:25
A bag with a straw in it, and…

Stefanie Bautista 30:27
A bag with a staw in it.

Ariel Landrum 30:28
And if you go to Storytellers Cafe you can get a cereal milk in those bags in the straw. So what’s what has been what was street food is now bougie.

Stefanie Bautista 30:41
Is now bougie at the Grand Californian. That’s so funny. Um, but yeah, so I see it in a bag. And I asked the guy behind the counter like, “Is this Royal True Orange, which is the orange soda in the Philippines in a bag?” And he’s like, “It is!” And I’m like, “Oh my gosh, this is so cute. Like, who makes the pins?” He’s like, “Actually, my cousin makes the pins.” And so I’m like, “Oh, that’s really awesome.” And then I’m browsing a little bit more. And I’m like, “Hey, you know what, I’m gonna get a couple of these pins.” I got that. And also polvorón which is like a really sweet dessert that’s kind of powdery that comes in a little wrappings. That meant a lot to me, because I used to make those with my mom when I was younger. And it was like a really sweet treat that I love. And I still love to this day. And I was like, “I’m gonna buy some of these pins. But also, would your cousin be willing to talk to me because I actually have a panel…” And then I go into my whole spiel about how we have a panel at San Diego Comic-Con. And we would love to have creators like her who are artistic and use their craft to express themselves and their culture through food. And he’s just like, “Wait, are you serious? Are for real? Let me text her right now!” And then so he texts her and then the next day I set up a meeting with her her name is Celena, Sacramento, also known as Celine, Celena Bernice, and she is from LA. Ironically, she was, I think, getting lunch or something at that time, so she wasn’t there. But she had to step away from the booth a little bit. But Anime Expo was the only place that she would sell her things at that time. And she’d only been to San Diego Comic-Con as an attendee, and she was just like, “I would love to be on your panel.” She migrated here from the Philippines not that long ago. And she had some amazing stories to tell about being who she is in that space as a graphic designer. And it she said it also helped reinvigorate her craft. So I think it was like a win win situation. And I was so happy to have her on the panel and have her perspective, because it was such a unique one. And it made the conversations just so awesome.

Ariel Landrum 32:42
Yes. Now we have talked a lot about the panels that we did, and they will actually we’ll be putting the audio on the podcast and or if you want to actually watch them, we’ll be putting them on YouTube. I think that you all will enjoy sort of that adjunct to what we do.

Stefanie Bautista 32:57
Yes. And forgive us. We do not have professionals recording us. So if the audio is a little wonky. Forgive us we will improve…

Ariel Landrum 33:04
One was recorded on a phone my people we are not like, like, it looks like we’re that life. But we’re not that life.

Stefanie Bautista 33:10
No we’re not. We are grassroots just like you all. If you have tips and tricks about recording panels, we would love to hear about that. Because like I said, are like we said, being on these panels we are, they kind of just leave you to your own devices. And you kind of have to figure out how you want to record it. When you want to take your pictures. I know everybody has like the cute picture in front of like the in front of the panel and like the background, but you literally have to like take two seconds to do all of that stuff. Because you have like no time to prepare, and you have to just get it in or else you’re just not gonna get it in at all.

Ariel Landrum 33:45
And when it comes to managing expectations, some of it is some of your panelists might not show up, because their previous panel ran late or they aren’t able to attend anymore. Joon’s cousin who owns the K-Popcorn Chicken with him couldn’t come. So that’s why we had four instead of five, which was totally fine, because four ended up being the perfect number. And at San Diego Comic-Con, the slides wouldn’t load any of the images, because the internet was wack.

Stefanie Bautista 34:12
Beautiful, this beautiful slide. And because we were talking about food, you wanted to have recipes. And we wanted to like tell everybody how much because you know food, there’s so many different ways to communicate that and we wanted to attack it from all levels. And we had a QR code for everybody, which we will have hopefully on the podcast website for all of you guys to see. And none of it showed up. So we had to describe every picture.

Ariel Landrum 34:38
Which grateful that the QR code worked because people on their phones were able to see what you’re supposed to be able to see.

Stefanie Bautista 34:44
So yay for accessibility. We did it. Yeah, so things are not gonna go the way you want it to for all my teacher friends out there, you know, you can prepare a lesson to the tee to the minute to the second and have it be perfect. And then once you get up there at all falls apart. So this is just one of those things that it’s just the reality of it. And at the end of it, we all just had really fulfilling conversation that the audience was so engaged. Thank you for everybody who attended. Hopefully, we will see you all again. Because the guy there’s so there’s a guy in there who click click clicks away to see how many people are in the panel, and homeboy on the side just kept clicking away. And I was like, “Oh, whoa, there it is.”

Ariel Landrum 35:28
Yeah, the first three panels we did at WonderCon, WonderCon one a smaller convention. So we didn’t expect a lot of people. And then they were very niche. They were on AAPI experiences, or diversity. And so the the panel rooms, I would say, maybe like 40?

Stefanie Bautista 35:45
I would say, yeah, for WonderCon. Definitely, Maybe no more than 50?

Ariel Landrum 35:49
New Yeah, no more than 50 in the room. So we were just kind of expecting the same thing at San Diego Comic-Con. While there are more attendees at San Diego Comic-Con, we really factor that in. And oh my god, everybody loves food. And the interesting thing is, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a food panel. So maybe people were like, mind my phrase, hungry for this panel.

Stefanie Bautista 36:10
Oh, yeah.

Ariel Landrum 36:11
How many people do you think that we had in that room? And they just kept coming? My my my….

Stefanie Bautista 36:15
Oh, they just kept coming. And I was like, Are you lost? Did you Okay, so that was a couple of things that I thought about, actually, since it’s happened, because now I’ve had time to digest…

Ariel Landrum 36:24
Haha digest!

Stefanie Bautista 36:26
For me, I totally forgot how big the rooms were. And our room is 24 ABC. So I was like, okay, ABC. That means there’s three sections of a room that’s all compact together. And this is at the San Diego Convention Center. So we’re just right above the exhibit hall. Our panel is at 6:30. All the exhibit halls close at six o’clock. So afterwards if there isn’t a major panel in Hall H or like ballroom 20, which are the two big ones are the Indigo ballroom over at the San Diego Bayfront Hotel. If those are not as popular as people think they are, they’re going to want to just chill out before dinner. So I’m guessing a lot of people who were A just registering because it is the first day of convention center.

Ariel Landrum 37:09
Yeah, ’cause it was Thursday.

Stefanie Bautista 37:10
Registration was just down the hall from us. We were very accessible. And we were very fortunate to have that time slot because there weren’t a lot of big things going around. People just want to see what the convention is all about. And that is when you go see whichever panels are happening. And they always have a little agenda in front of every single room to see which panels are going on. And because some of them are niche, most people did gravitate, I feel like towards arts because it was a subject that everybody could relate to. Because people were dressed up as your friends and Good Burger costumes and.

Ariel Landrum 37:44
Ahh yes!

Stefanie Bautista 37:46
Your your little adoptees that you umm…

Ariel Landrum 37:49
We will talk about that in a little bit.

Stefanie Bautista 37:51
Yes. And it was right before dinner. So maybe people were a little bit hungry or just wanted to hear something a little bit different because like you said, I’ve never seen a food panel ever, and we’re not chefs, you’re gonna We’re home cooks at best; home bakers. We’re just foodies, and have lovers of foods. So I think maybe that also compelled people to just come check it out. And we were hyping there. I don’t know about anybody else. But that was the most hype panel that I’ve been on because the subject wasn’t so heavy. But it was very meaningful. But we were so excited to talk about it. I think that resonated in the room as well. So I would say maybe at the end of it, I would say near one about 100 people were in that panel?

Ariel Landrum 38:37
Well that day. So the the thing about our QR code and where our slides are, it counts, like how long or how many people have viewed or accessed it in that day, there was at least 120 people who viewed it. Just that day. And since then, I guess people are are viewing it afterwards, because there’s been over 300 people who have now viewed our slides to get the recipes.

Stefanie Bautista 39:02
That’s madness. I love that.

Ariel Landrum 39:06
What? You are accessing slides?

Stefanie Bautista 39:11
Slides that didn’t even work.

Ariel Landrum 39:12
Yeah, so thank thank you to those people.

Stefanie Bautista 39:16
think yeah, thank you to all of you.

Ariel Landrum 39:19
Rolling back a little bit. Okay, so, in talking about conventions first, do you want to hyper focus on this year’s conventions, and maybe starting off with Anime Expo because I didn’t go so what was that experience like for you?

Stefanie Bautista 39:33
Yeah, definitely. I mean, I go to Anime Expo every year, whether it’s just for one day, two days, all four days if I have the stamina, and also because Anime Expo always falls on the Fourth of July. There’s always a lot of family stuff going on. And it’s like the first. It’s the first holiday for all of the schools. So I always try to go in any way shape or form and I’ve been going since 20 a 2006, 2007.

Ariel Landrum 39:57
Wow!

Stefanie Bautista 39:57
Back when it was in Anaheim, where WonderCon actually is at the convention center. But man, it was Weeb Central. Like, you’re getting like the super niche…

Ariel Landrum 40:08
You’re like an Elder Weeb.

Stefanie Bautista 40:10
I am an Elder Weeb now I can say I mean, I feel like now a lot of a lot of people have been calling us Professional Geeks, which is awesome. Because we have achieved that level of success. But an all thanks to you all. But anyway, Anime Expo to me has always been home convention because A it’s always been somewhere in and around LA, whether it be Anaheim or the Convention Center where it now lives. And it always had a lot of opportunities for me to connect with anime that I wouldn’t necessarily be able to because we live in America, right anime is Japanese based. A lot of their products are just simply not here. I am very fortunate to live in Los Angeles where we do have a big Japanese American population. And so I can always travel to either Little Tokyo, Carson, Torrance… Any one of these enclaves even San Francisco, they have a big Japanese population out there to try and connect myself with merchandise with you know, like any little sort of thing to help me represent the anime that I love. So this year, was Anime Expo’s 30th anniversary. I had no idea. So there were a lot of cool things happening with Anime Expo because it was the 30th anniversary they were really hyping it up. It was back at the convention center in LA. And so…

Ariel Landrum 41:23
Okay the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Stefanie Bautista 41:24
Yes, the Los Angeles Convention Center right next to what is now called the Crypto.com Arena used to be called the Staples Center, not anymore…

Ariel Landrum 41:31
Dang crypto.

Stefanie Bautista 41:32
As a native Angeleno, I’m never going to call it the Crypto.com Arena, but that’s…

Ariel Landrum 41:36
Staples Center.

Stefanie Bautista 41:37
That’s a personal opinion of mine. It’s always gonna be Staples Center, always Kobe’s House. But they implemented a lot of different things that I feel like could have been done better. I understand that, you know, at first, when they were first advertising it, they said they were not going to verify COVID vaccinations. A lot of people were very upset about that, because they just said, “You know, you just have to monitor your health and make sure that you’re not sick.” But a lot of the panelists a lot of people who were coming from Japan, because Japan is still a closed country right now, they are not accepting any tourist, they are going to have a lot of they were or are going to have a lot of professionals at Anime Expo. And they didn’t want to risk exposure, which for all of us, especially for anime and the reach that it has now for younger audiences, a lot of parents and you know, me, myself, having my son, you know, having his first convention being Anime Expo after WonderCon. I didn’t want to risk that exposure either. And they realized that they needed to do a shift. So that’s when I first realized that we needed to do COVID vaccine verifications. And how they did that was they made you walk around the Convention Center, pretty far from where the actual entrances were, at the main Convention Center around the Staples Center, and into there’s like a street. It’s called Figaro. And it’s right between LA Live, which is like a shopping entertainment district, and the actual Staples Center and Convention Center. You had to walk all the way over there, get your COVID verification, and then come back. So it was a lot of walking. And mind you this is like the beginning of summer. So it’s just getting up into the 90’s here in Los Angeles. And so if you didn’t take advantage of that first registration day, all conventions, they normally have a day zero because there’s usually four days of registration. And Day Zero is when you get registered, especially for professionals, anybody setting up for the convention that has your day set up, get situated, get all of your credentials, everything that you need to have a good time at the convention to do what you need to do, basically. So if you didn’t take advantage of that day, you’re kind of screwed. Because you…

Ariel Landrum 43:43
Did you take advantage of that day? Did you know?

Stefanie Bautista 43:45
I definitely did I knew… because I had been doing this for so long. I always know to get my badge not on the day that I want to start doing convention things like going to the exhibit hall like seeing what I want to buy seeing what panels I want to attend. So luckily for me, because I don’t work too far from downtown. I was able to go get my badge first. But then with the amount of walking that I saw that I was going to do and the amount of walking people are going to be doing…

Ariel Landrum 44:10
Yeah…

Stefanie Bautista 44:11
In cosplay.

Ariel Landrum 44:12
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 44:13
I was like, “Oh, I don’t know about this one.” So not only that, but they were also filtering out the lines that came into the convention center. I know for San Diego Comic-Con and WonderCon. You basically just walk into the doors, you verify your badge and you go in. This one they wanted you to be in a singular line and two entrances. And so these lines would snake around the Convention Center, around the Staples Center loop all the way back around… It was like being in line at Disneyland but like way more score connected. So for me, I know if you have been attending our panels, I am currently six months pregnant. So I am expecting a little one very, very soon. And convention going for me has definitely given a mama perspective as a different perspective altogether. But yeah, expecting Mama is definitely a even more different perspective because you have to think about how you are feeling. And if you are up for conventioning. Because for a lot of our friends who are considered disabled or it’s hard for them to get around, they have to think of other ways for them to be comfortable during convention because it’s a lot of walking a lot of sweating a lot of people around you, and you just want to be comfortable and enjoy yourself at the convention too.

Ariel Landrum 45:34
And I know even like prep work wise before attending a convention, at least the two or three weeks before I will start increasing my step count to be able to tolerate the amount of foot traffic and depending on the convention, like at San Diego Comic-Con this year, they didn’t renew the carpeting. So you were just walking on cement unless a booth had its own special carpeting or its own padding, at which the Star Wars’ booth had the best padding right next…

Stefanie Bautista 46:06
Oh I didn’t go to that one..

Ariel Landrum 46:07
Oh it was one right next to the Naruto bowl.

Stefanie Bautista 46:09
Oh!

Ariel Landrum 46:09
I just likes I would like slowly lean into those like costumes. Stand on the plantform.

Stefanie Bautista 46:15
That’s why you are standing over there. “I was, why are they, they’re not moving?”

Ariel Landrum 46:18
Oh. It was so good!

Stefanie Bautista 46:22
Yes, yeah, that’s definitely something that you have to take into consideration because not everybody can go full force 4 days straight. It’s like doing Disney World in a sense, because you have to make sure that you are your stamina is up to speed to be able to withstand and not be, you know, just dying at the end of the day of exhaustion and what have you. But anyway, I was actually able to be tipped off by somebody because I didn’t really want to walk again around the Convention Center to be in that line to get in because I was tired. I was with my two year old and my husband. And I was like, “I’m not gonna stand…” and pregnant. So I was like, “Is there another way that I can get into another line?” And they’re like, “Well, since you are pregnant, you can technically get an ADA badge, which is American Disabilities Act badge, because you are considered in the category of people who need assistance.” And so I’m like, “Oh, that’s fantastic.” I was able to get that badge and my husband was my helper. And because of that convention, the convention was so much more easier for us to navigate because I did not have to extend myself or overwork myself to the point of exhaustion.

Ariel Landrum 47:31
So in getting the badge, so you didn’t have it essentially, like the first day you got it the second day?

Stefanie Bautista 47:37
I did get it the second day.

Ariel Landrum 47:38
Okay. And then what were some of the accommodations that you received at Anime Expo? And how like, how did it change your experience?

Stefanie Bautista 47:48
Oh, absolutely. So the first day when I did not have the badge, I went into the general line. And people are just like, kind of like, shoveling you through kind of like cattle. It’s like, “Okay, scan your badge, make sure you scan it,” all that stuff. And that is a very stressful process. Because if you don’t know how to you have to scan your badge to the RFID scanner to make sure that you paid for your ticket, all that stuff. And that whole thing just to get it right. With my ADA badge, I went to a different line with much more friendlier people. And it didn’t seem like you know, they were hating life at that point. And, yeah, they were very accommodating. They were like, “Oh, it’s okay, you can take your time, we’re not rushing you.” There was no line to get in. They were very friendly. They made small talk with me. And then I was able to go into another entrance next to the main entrance. But it led right to the elevators to go up because there’s a lot of stairs around the convention center. But because of that, we had special seating for certain things. If you wanted to play video games, there were always like a separate section for people with the ADA badge. And if they saw that you did have an ADA badge, they would let you go into different entrances that made it easier to access certain things like panels, and also just special things that like giveaways and things like that.

Ariel Landrum 49:10
Okay, so I think maybe because Anime Expo is smaller than San Diego Comic-Con, it sounds like they gave you more accommodations then what it seemed like what we saw at SDCC.

Stefanie Bautista 49:22
Yeah, definitely. And on top of that, I guess it’s worth mentioning that even though you did not have an ADA badge, they did have special rooms that were quiet rooms and like manga reading rooms for people who wanted to just get away from the convention floor. And those were accessible on the second level of the convention, the Convention Center and all you had to do was just you know, go in there would just monitor how many people were in there. And if it was too loud outside you could go in it was air conditioned, quiet. Everyone’s just kind of on their phones with their headphones on. And yeah, you could you did not have to have an ADA badge to access that. And also a quiet manga reading room where you could just go in, and it was just a room full of manga. And if you didn’t want to be on the convention floor with all of the hullabaloo, you could just sit down and read manga and get your fix that way. And so that was really good, because you did not have to have a certain special badge if you just really wanted to get away and unwind, but also not leave the convention, you could utilize one of those two rooms as a regular attendee.

Ariel Landrum 50:30
Yeah, I think that accommodation is the one that one access to general public because you know, everyone kind of needs a moment to be able to decompress. And I know in talking to Josué, the Geek Therapy Podcast, and obviously founder of our network, he has worked with the Take This at conventions, and they have an AFK room Away From Keyboard.

Stefanie Bautista 50:57
Oh I love that!

Ariel Landrum 50:59
Where you get access to you just sit with a mental health professional, you get access to decompress, you’re given sort of additional supports, and it’s volunteers, as well as clinical staff. They don’t provide mental health services, like you’re doing therapy, but they help, you know, give you some emotional support, or maybe give you some support tools if you are becoming overwhelmed by the convention floor. And that is something that they had it like more gaming conventions. I think that is something they should implement at every convention.

Stefanie Bautista 51:29
Every convention. Especially the big ones!

Ariel Landrum 51:32
There’s just too much stimulus too much.

Stefanie Bautista 51:35
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 51:36
There is a lot going on, and particularly for new people. But I also think of like kiddos who could just like need a place to like nap in their in their stroller or something.

Stefanie Bautista 51:44
Yeah, definitely, I know of just a thing that happens at conventions, you see people sitting everywhere, everywhere, any nook and cranny or wherever they can sit they will sit, because it is exhausting. Just doing all that walking constantly, you’re wanting to see everything you’re wanting to go out every floor, you want to go to every like experience. You just need a break sometimes. And you will see you know, people in cosplay just lying out on the floor or you know, just taking a break finding a place to eat. Because there’s very limited seating in front of where you can get food or the food trucks are outside or what have you. And so a normal thing is just seeing people laid out everywhere. But if we implemented something like that quiet room, or maybe even just like, even setting aside half of one of the halls just for a bunch of tables just to sit down, you don’t have to sit on the floor for those of us who can’t sit on the floor, or it’s hard for us to get up from the floor. That is definitely something that would encourage more people to go to conventions.

Ariel Landrum 52:43
Now, when it comes to accommodations, San Diego Comic-Con does a really good job. And they also do a very bad job. And this is where I think some conventions need to create like a pamphlet. So you you get a sticker or a special badge, you get something that markers that you are that you’re utilizing accommodations. And so for those who don’t know, I have a lot of severe allergies, one of them being Cholinergic urticaria. And what that means is I’m allergic to my sweat. Like, like y’all, San Diego Comic-Con in the heat…

Stefanie Bautista 53:27
It’s sweat city!

Ariel Landrum 53:28
In line. So I not only use a fan, I actually have a cool gel patch that I wear fairly regularly, I have an asthma inhaler to help me breathe, because what will happen is if my body gets too warm, and I start sweating, I will not only break out in a rash, but I will actually go into like an anaphylactic shock where I can’t breathe. So I finally decided this year that I would access the accommodations. That because my condition had just gotten so much worse, it was less manageable. I’m older, you know, it’s a thing you have to accept.

Stefanie Bautista 54:01
Yes.

Ariel Landrum 54:01
And you will go in and they will say, “Who needs accommodation?” You say “Me,” they’ll give you a sticker. And that’s it.

Stefanie Bautista 54:09
That’s it. Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 54:10
You have to figure the rest out. I don’t understand why they don’t have a pamphlet that says like, so there were outside activations that you needed to pre check in at the ADA booth. I didn’t know that.

Stefanie Bautista 54:21
I didn’t know that either. I thought you could just show up and then it just happened.

Ariel Landrum 54:24
So some of them, some of them you could show them and they have a separate line for you. But others like this year was the Game of Thrones, the House Targaryen one you needed to check in and some sort of virtual type check in at the booths. There were exclusives that had a specific line for individuals ADA again, you would have had to check in the booth. They didn’t tell me any of these things. They also didn’t explain how many people your handler badge could be given out to. Because what if your handler isn’t there that day or doesn’t have a badge? So remember that to get an San Diego Comic-Con you will are on a lottery. So you may get Thursday and Aunday but not Friday and Saturday. So who was going to come and assist me if I needed assistance?

Stefanie Bautista 55:08
Correct yeah.

Ariel Landrum 55:09
There were temporary day badges that you can get. But of course, I wasn’t aware of that. And so unless you are integrated with the community that has used these accessibilities, you would not have been aware. And then even when it was time to check in for you, we had asked, is there a decompression room and there wasn’t! How is it that small Anime Expo which isn’t a small anymore, but still a lot smaller in San Diego Comic-Con has a decompression room and yet San Diego Comic-Con doesn’t? They did have a nursing room. But it was literally a fake wall with curtains…

Stefanie Bautista 55:43
Yes.

Ariel Landrum 55:43
Behind the ADA check-in.

Stefanie Bautista 55:45
for those of you who breastfed not as comfortable as some other nursing rooms. I’ve been in nursing rooms in many different stadiums, and at least they have a plant in there’s, and a reclining chair.

Ariel Landrum 55:56
Nope, nope, none of that. And then even with some of the like the areas on the hall, like we talked about the decompression room is somewhere to sit. There, there’s nowhere to sit and they will tell you to stand up, they will tell you to get off the ground. If you were if you look like you’re blocking traffic, which makes sense. We don’t want to, you know, make a hazardous environment in case there’s crisis. But part, like part of the accommodation is that you can’t stand for long periods of time. And yet we have nowhere for people to sit?

Stefanie Bautista 56:28
Yes, exactly. And you’re right, they do a great job. And they don’t do a great job. Because although the verification process to get an ADA badge, of course, they’re not going to interrogate you and ask you lately, let me see your proof. They’re not going to do that. But the follow up to that is kind of like you said, you have to figure it out on your own. And unfortunately, for a lot of people who do fall into the ADA category, a lot of their lives are already figured out on your own. And so without that prior knowledge, you it can either make or break your convention experience. And so I think, you know, having that decompression room, or having a pamphlet of saying, you know, I feel like even and correct me if I’m wrong Disney, they have a specific like, they tell you where all of the ADA accommodations are on the map, I’ve seen that before, when you open it up, you see the little ADA little symbol that’s blue, and it tells you all of the different ways that you can access ADA accessibility through those things. So I think that system can be easily implemented into a four day convention where you’re not doing it every single day. Just a little thing like that. Because yes, there is a program guide that has, you know, it’s pages and pages of like descriptions and things like that. There’s also a map that is like, has all of these different explanations and things. So you know, these little tweaks could make a convention goers experience all the more better. And although more comfortable seeing that it’s already a pretty stressful situation.

Ariel Landrum 57:57
So just like our an older episode about managing expectations, when you’re going to Disneyland, you need to manage your expectation when you go to any convention, and particularly the bigger ones like WonderCon or San Diego Comic-Con. And the reason why is because in particular with San Diego Comic-Con, it is wider, it is longer there is a lot of like foot traffic you have to go through to get from one area to another. So if you have a panel that is at the San Diego library, which they do, then that’s part of Comicon. And then you’re trying to get all the way to Hall H that’s literally the other side of town, essentially.

Stefanie Bautista 58:37
Yeah. And when you’re on foot, it’s like and you’re walking outside, you’re not walking in like air conditioned vents.

Ariel Landrum 58:43
And so this is where I would say people who aren’t from SoCal and who don’t live in this area. I don’t think that they they immediately think San Diego, nice, cool, consistent weather in the 70s. And I think what you’re forgetting is that you’re in an area where a lot of the ocean breeze is being blocked by large buildings because it is in the Gaslamp District, and you are doubling the amount of people outside which just increases the heat. And then Comic-Con is always in July. And so the sun is just blaring on you. There’s where there’s barely any clouds and there certainly isn’t any like rain or cool mist.

Stefanie Bautista 59:20
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 59:20
So you have to prepare for it being hot.

Stefanie Bautista 59:23
Yeah. And there is a level of humidity to your you’re physically walking. So depending on the amount of sweat that you produce in a day, whether it be doing 10 minutes of exercise or hours of exercise, which you are essentially are doing when you’re walking around Comic-Con you have to take that into consideration and know when to take your breaks. I know for myself I took a lot of breaks even just from walking to the parking from the parking lot where I parked which was near Petco Park where the Padres play and going to the Convention Center. I took a break at the Hilton just to decompress because I knew I needed it. I wasn’t going to make it all the way to the Convention Center. And even if I did, would it really be worth it because once I got there, would I be even able to enjoy what I wanted to enjoy because I was so exhausted.

Ariel Landrum 1:00:09
Absolutely.

Stefanie Bautista 1:00:10
So I mean, that. And parking is a whole nother thing too if you’re not from the area because San Diego Comic-Con is the only convention that I know that does not have super accessible parking right away for somebody who does not know how the process works beforehand.

Ariel Landrum 1:00:27
some of the things you have to be mindful of is how you’re going to get parking how you’re going to get around, and what you’re willing to carry. So what any convention if you can bring at least water and snacks, you are pretty good. However, most conventions have free swag, and your bag starts to fill fairly, fairly fast, and it starts to get tiring to carry. And if your car is nowhere near the Convention Center, if you had to park off site, like if you went to WonderCon had to park in a completely different parking structure, then you have to be willing to know that either, “I’m going to carry this around all day. Is it worth it? Is this is this swag worth it for me?” And when it comes to the scheduling, if you are wanting to your what I have found, I should say what I’ve found successful is having a specific day that is like your convention floor day and having a specific day that is your panel day and just sacrificing on my floor today, I’m not going to those panels on the panel day, I’m not going down on the floor. So I’m probably not going to collect every day’s buttons for something or enamel pin. And I know that I’m not going to see whatever it is a large panel for whatever TV shows going on. So I have to after really be willing to sacrifice so that’s part of managing my expectation.

Stefanie Bautista 1:01:42
Yes. And of course, as it happens, whatever you have to do at the Convention Center, something’s always going to collide with it, something’s always just gonna be either 10 minutes into what you wanted to do, or 15 minutes into, you know what you are doing. So you just have to manage those expectations. And you have to just say to yourself, you know what, I’m going to try to do my best, I’m going to try to enjoy what I need, enjoy, get whatever I need to get done, and enjoy everything else. Because everything becomes way less enjoyable when you have these high expectations for yourself. And you know, logistically, it’s just not going to happen. I know for for WonderCon. And this is kind of going back to the different levels of convention participation. You you are nervous to you know, be a professional, you want to do your best you want to show up for both your panelists, your audience and everything. So even from me that’s nerve wracking…

Ariel Landrum 1:02:36
Oh, people know that you’re professional, because your badge says so…

Stefanie Bautista 1:02:41
Yes to you, you have to kind of change your mindset a little bit. And for me doing WonderCon for the first time, I was definitely butterflies in my stomach, I did not know if it was gonna go off well, or if people are gonna like me, or if people are gonna, you know, be engaged with what I want to say. And all of that, you know, me and Ariel, I feel like we’re very, you know, good in preparing most of our content. And even with that level of preparation, there’s still a lot of anxiety that comes around it like, is everyone going to show up on time, like, there’s a lot of moving parts to that. And I think managing the expectation of let’s just get up there, do what we need to do, and enjoy it afterwards. Definitely, I had to keep that in the back of my mind in order to survive.

Ariel Landrum 1:03:27
Okay, so my Comic-Con babies. Here’s the thing big. Because San Diego Comic-Con is so large. And I think for people who don’t go to conventions, they don’t understand. It is so large, it literally takes over all of San Diego. If I go to the Ralph’s grocery store, everybody’s dressed up as a superhero. And they’ve got Excelsior, like on the windows and cardboard cutouts. And they have like Monster Energy drinks that they’re handing out because they’re know that there’s going to be more people. And they that’s a great way to advertise, give out free swag.

Stefanie Bautista 1:03:55
For sure.

Ariel Landrum 1:03:56
If you even if you don’t get into the convention, you could just go to the town and walk around and get so many free things and see so many experiences that aren’t exclusive to badge holders.

Stefanie Bautista 1:04:06
Yep.

Ariel Landrum 1:04:07
And pretty much every three years or so, if you go for three years in a row, you kind of got the idea of what you need to do. And that’s around the time where you meet new people who it’s their brand new time and you do something called you adoptees where you adopt someone into your group you into your fold. And so my my friend Alex, he his adoptees are these two really cool Canadians, Ravi and Shawn. And so this year apparently was my adoptees because I adopted Xavier and Greg and they weren’t new to conventions, but they were definitely new to San Diego Comic-Con and we spent almost every single day together once we adopted them the very first day on Preview Night and there was there’s some benefits of being essentially adopted or or at least included in the fold right for From your Comic-Con attendees. One of them being this year because of COVID. And needing to get the bat, the wristband that says that you’re vaccinated, they had two areas where you can get verified. And so there was the one right out front of the Convention Center, which snaked around the entire Convention Center like…

Stefanie Bautista 1:05:22
Oh, yeah…

Ariel Landrum 1:05:22
Four times.

Stefanie Bautista 1:05:23
I’m sure that’s those are the pictures that you all probably saw on Twitter or Instagram or Facebook of just like the madness of what that line was because it was right in front of the Convention Center where everybody takes all their pictures of cosplay everything.

Ariel Landrum 1:05:35
And what ended up being as if there was another one that was actually a lot shorter than not a lot of people knew about, and it was at the Marriott Hotel. So we immediately told them, “Go to the Marriott Hotel, get get your vaccine verification there, because the line is gonna be a lot smaller, and you’re gonna get into the convention sooner.” And remember, these tickets are very expensive. So you want to make use of as much time as you can. And if you have Preview Night, Preview Night only lasts I think from like six to nine so you don’t have a lot of opportunity to go into the convention floor and check it out. So that was our one of our first tips. Our other tip being the free shuttles. What most people don’t know is that Comic-Con has free shuttles that will take you from different hotels, so even if you’re really far away, you don’t even need to get a car or parking if you don’t plan on carrying too much stuff or you do the check in like we talked about.

Stefanie Bautista 1:06:29
They’re like huge charter buses to they’re not just like, you know, short buses…

Ariel Landrum 1:06:32
Short but yeah, they’re not they’re not they’re not like, like passenger vans.

Stefanie Bautista 1:06:38
Yeah, they’re not passenger. We’re not like like shuttles you would think they’re like big charter buses.

Ariel Landrum 1:06:42
Yeah, huge charter buses. And then the other suggestions that we’d given them was ways to get onto the different activations. Ways to get into Hall H we didn’t get into Hall H on the big mega Saturday. And we we stayed out in that line till 2-am ya’ll.

Stefanie Bautista 1:07:02
Oh my gosh!

Ariel Landrum 1:07:03
2, 2am There were some shenanigans happening and lots of our group was honestly the noisiest I’m sure there’s a Twitter Thread out there of someone who’s just trying to like sleep. And yeah, I think that, remember that that’s part of the culture and the community. I hope that if any of you decide to go to conventions, you can find an established group that looks cool that you can integrate yourself with because having convention friends, friends you only see at convention, it’s like a whole different vibe. It’s a whole new level.

Stefanie Bautista 1:07:33
And just a disclaimer, I was not in that line until two o’clock, I tapped out early because since yes, I am six months pregnant. Me and our friend Chance, who was kind of my my handler, like all of my handler, we were each other’s handlers. Because you know, we both have accommodations that we needed to take into consideration. We tapped out early. So we were kind of on a different trajectory as everybody else had had been a couple years earlier. I would I was right there with Shawn Ravi and our friend Alex and I would be at those lines, just you know, having a blast because like Ariel said, having convention friends that you only see at convention is very special because it is something unique and special to you. And you know, that sense of community is just irreplaceable.

Ariel Landrum 1:08:16
In switching to Disney specifically because the Disney podcast there is a Disney convention.

Stefanie Bautista 1:08:25
Oh, yes.

Ariel Landrum 1:08:27
Called D23 which basically as mega San Diego Comic-Con, because Disney owns so many of the franchises that we love. Have you ever been?

Stefanie Bautista 1:08:35
I’ve never been I do have friends who are part of D23, which is a club. It is a fan club that you have membership to not as exclusive and not as exclusive as Club 33 where you have to be invited in and it’s just like, you know, a whole thing. But D23 is where you get special releases. You get like a newsletter in the form of a magazine with like special art. There’s a lot of different perks to being a detail D23. Member. Yes. But yeah, D 23 was founded in March 10 2009. So it’s not very old, not very new. But I think as a convention that has grown over the years, because of all of its acquisitions, it has become something that is now its own entity. I know, being a part of San Diego Comic-Con and being a part of WonderCon they would always have like a Marvel panel, they would always have like, you know, some sort of Disney panel or Pixar or whatever. They have slowly been pulling away from these conventions because they want to focus on their own. So every year, just like this year, “Marvel’s not going to do a big thing!” And you know, “Marvel’s gonna do it all at the D23.” Yeah, this year at San Diego Comic-Con Marvel did the most and had like literally everybody under the sun for Phase Five and Six and yeah, total lie.

Ariel Landrum 1:09:45
Lie.

Stefanie Bautista 1:09:46
So now I don’t know what they’re gonna do for D23. It has to be something big because it is their own thing. So it is that is definitely the next milestone for us as a Disney podcast.

Ariel Landrum 1:09:57
Neither of us have been and it is a September this year. And we have a goal to, to get there in whatever way possible, but preferably, we were hoping to try and do press. I just I don’t think that we could create and propose a panel at this point. It’s actually too late. Like we’re recording this episode in August and it’s in September. So I’m assuming that that is, that’s close.

Stefanie Bautista 1:10:26
And, like we, it’s, it’s nearby, it’s in Anaheim. So hopefully, fingers crossed, we can get there. But if you know you have any experiences with d3 23 Please shout us out and tell us your experiences because we’d love to know we’re going into this blind.

Ariel Landrum 1:10:46
So if you have any ideas of how we can get into D23.

Stefanie Bautista 1:10:51
Shout us out. Let us know.

Ariel Landrum 1:10:54
If you have some convention experiences or if you’ve incorporated people to your group, some adoptees, just, you know, tweet at us @HappiestPodGT or DMS on our Instagram @HappiestPodGT.

Stefanie Bautista 1:11:07
Yes, we are so excited to be back. I know that we have a lot of content coming up. I know we’ve been pushing out a lot of episodes that we are kind of backlogged on, you know, life gets in the way. And that’s totally okay. We are all for taking care of ourselves and taking care of yourselves. In this new season. Now that we are coming semi out of this pandemic a little bit into more normal times, we understand that when we first started this podcast, it was a whole different world. So now we are navigating this in a different space. And we would love to hear your experiences, or maybe even at our next panel whenever that happens. Let us know and if you have any ideas of what other things we can think and talk about, we would love to hear from you. Because if we learned anything from these conventions is that creating a network of geeky professionals like you and I really makes this community so special.

Ariel Landrum 1:12:04
Yes. All right. Have a great rest of your summer. Buh bye!

Stefanie Bautista 1:12:09
Alirght bye, everyone.

Media/Characters Mentioned
  • Good Burger
  • Demon Slayer
  • Lumpia With A Vengence
Topics/Themes Mentioned
  • ADA
  • Accessibilty
  • Pregnancy
  • Nursing
  • Chest feeding
  • Conventions
  • Community
  • Integration
  • Friendships
  • Friend groups
  • Scheduling
  • Managing expectations

Questions? Comments? Discuss this episode on the GT Forum.

—

 Website: happy.geektherapy.com
 | Instagram: @HappiestPodGT | Twitter: @HappiestPodGT | Facebook: @HappiestPodGT |
 | Stef on Twitter: @stefa_kneee | Ariel on Instagram: @airyell3000 |

Geek Therapy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit with the mission of advocating for the effective and meaningful use of popular media in therapeutic, educational, and community practice.
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Behind the Magic: Up Close with Lady Tremaine

July 15, 2022 · Discuss on the GT Forum

https://media.blubrry.com/happypod/media.transistor.fm/47215077/f474de4b.mp3

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#29: Ariel and Stef had the honor of interviewing the terrifying and regal Jessica who played Lady Tremaine at Walt Disney World. In this episode, we learn the joys, the frustrations, and the horrors of being a face character at the happiest place on earth.

Read the blog post for this episode for additional references and resources.

Become a member of Geek Therapy on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/geektherapy

Transcription

Ariel Landrum 0:11
Hello, everyone, welcome to the Happiest Pod on Earth. I’m Ariel, I’m a licensed therapist who uses clients passions and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma and mental unwellness.

Stefanie Bautista 0:21
And I’m Stef, and I’m an educator who uses passions and fandoms to help my students grow and learn about themselves and the world around them.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 0:28
And I’m Jessica, also known as TramaineTok, I am a TikToker, Instagrammer and former Disney performer for several years.

Ariel Landrum 0:39
And at Happiest Pod, it’s a place where we dissect Disney mediums with a critical lens.

Stefanie Bautista 0:44
Why do we do that? Because just like we’re more than just fans, we expect more from the mediums we consume.

Ariel Landrum 0:50
So everybody, what are we discussing today?

Stefanie Bautista 0:53
Well, we have a special guest!

Ariel Landrum 0:56
She’s so special.

Stefanie Bautista 0:57
Thank you, Jessica, for joining us today. What an honor it is to have you and thank you for taking the time. And we are so excited to hopefully pick your brain a little bit about your experiences and you know, just another side of Disney that we personally do not have any idea about so.

Ariel Landrum 1:18
Yes, yes. Okay, so for our audience members, as Jessica mentioned, she is a TokToker. She is also a former face character at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. She’s also an actress and dancer for Universal Orlando Resort, and was a character performer even at SeaWorld in Orlando. So she’s going to share with us what it’s like to be a character at the parks and some of the do’s and don’ts in regards to character interaction.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 1:49
Awesome.

Ariel Landrum 1:50
So starting off the character you played with Lady Tremaine, who, for some of our audience members, in our villains episode, we talked about Lady Tremaine’s a very scary villain because she’s a realistic villain. Like I could see me walking up and actually interacting with somebody who has a very similar tendencies. Did you mean to be a Disney villain and specifically her? How does that sort of process go?

Jessica Lady Tremaine 2:14
No, essentially, the audition process is very generic. It’s what us in the entertainment industry would call a cattle call. So you go, there’s hundreds and if not 1000s of people at one audition, and they’re looking for kind of everything, or they’re not specific about what they’re looking for. And Disney is very good about being very ambiguous with what they’re asking for. So So I went to a general audition. So I was not setting out to be a villain. I didn’t even know that like, I kind of fit that type.

Stefanie Bautista 2:49
I guess that’s something you don’t really think about, like, which one? Do my features represent? I would. Now it got me thinking.

Ariel Landrum 2:58
Well, and even like that word, like type, like, how did they present to you like, “Hey, we think this is who you fit the best, or what you should be doing.”

Jessica Lady Tremaine 3:06
Well, I found out over the course of not only my audition process, but my callback process with which is what they call a face fitting. Essentially, I am you haven’t seen me in person, but I’m five foot 10. So I’m, I’m pretty tall. Um, they had me measured a little bit shorter. So I could do more fur characters, which we can talk about later. But so I’m very tall. I have a very long face with a lot of angles. So I have very strong jawline, very narrow cheeks. And I also have just like very long features. They were very particular about my eyes, my eyes are very large in relation to the rest of my features. And they really noticed me in the audition based on my facial expressions, I very extreme facial expressions, just naturally talking not even when I’m really turning it on. So that was kind of what I found out later was what they were looking at.

Stefanie Bautista 4:09
Interesting.

Ariel Landrum 4:10
I I’m like I’m hearing you describe your facial features and how detailed it is. And I’m I don’t even think I could describe myself in such detail, does it? I mean, I guess that’s part of being an actress. Like you have to kind of be able to really describe yourself and be able to understand what you might fit.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 4:31
Yeah, absolutely. And I will say that a lot of it comes from I mean, you’re therapist, it comes from a place of being criticized. So one of the most criticized industries is the entertainment industry. You know, I wasn’t just an actress, I was also a dancer. So I spent my entire life being told you’re too tall or you’re not thin enough or your proportions aren’t right. You know, all those said in polite ways are not really great to hear, but it resonates with you when you’ve heard it for so many years, so it’s easy for you to point it out.

Ariel Landrum 5:08
Okay. Okay. I think that’s really interesting to note that you have to sort of pivot your mind around what criticism is going to be because you’re stepping into a profession where it is part of the profession. There’s no real like, gentle way to say things. And I can see that being a level of self awareness, but also so like, do you feel like you have to have like a tough skin to be able to enter entertainment?

Jessica Lady Tremaine 5:35
Yeah. And actually, it it actually is helped with now being on social media. But when you especially are a villain, you are heckled from the moment you walk out onto set until the moment you walk back/

Stefanie Bautista 5:48
For sure.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 5:49
And it would happen to my face. Like I’ve told this story on my Tik Tok, where a dad told me, I was a size four at the time. And I’m 5’10”. So it’s pretty tiny. So I am, I was a size four, and a dad told me that I was fat and ugly, to my face in front of his wife and children, and a hashtag came out of it on a video that trended for a while, called “Cinderella is Savage,” Because my friend was Cinderella, my friend was Cinderella for at the time, and I told her, and she went over and said something to him. And I don’t know what she said to him. But he came over and apologized to me. So I don’t know what she said.

Stefanie Bautista 6:33
She said something.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 6:34
Yeah. So so. So so in order to cope, you have to either disassociate or something like almost have like an out of body experience? Because if you don’t, you’ll you’ll go crazy.

Stefanie Bautista 6:49
I mean, it seems like you use that as a strength for you. I mean, and that carries in your social media, because I mean, a lot of your followers do say, you know, you’re really brave for speaking up and speaking out on behalf of cast members. And I think that’s the most I mean, you can say that for any profession, but especially in a profession where you’re being scrutinized from every single angle, to be honest like that. I mean, I really appreciate it. I know all your followers do. And I mean, did that did those stories inspire you to share your experiences as a cast member just to kind of get it out in the open? Or what really was the spark to say, “Hey, I’m going to just give a little bit of truth to this.”

Ariel Landrum 7:30
Yeah, make it really public, because a lot of the things that you’ve shared on your Tiktok, they were like, shocking to me. But then it made sense. Like, okay, you’re a public, you’re in the public. I should have, I shouldn’t be shocked to yet I am shocked.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 7:45
Yeah, so I actually started to share my story on accident. So I created my Tiktok. Honestly, I had a friend of mine who wanted to send me videos, and she was like, “Oh, I can just send them through the app easier.” So I wasn’t really making content. And so I did end up making my first real video, back in April, like April 29 of last year. So it’s fairly recent, where I told the story about my first time going viral as a character. So I was the character that went viral on YouTube, to the tune of like 18 or 19 million views. And that was several years ago. So a long time ago, but um, I essentially talked about that interaction. And from there, it sparked like that went viral in a matter of two or three days. And I all of a sudden had all these questions that I didn’t know anybody ever wanted answers to. And so I just started answering them. I know it’s silly, but I just started answering them. And then as I kind of went through, I was able to process things that had happened to me that were really, really damaging in a way that my therapist hadn’t really been able to walk me through them, because he just didn’t really it’s not that he wasn’t able to understand because he was doing his best, but he had never been in that position. So the coping strategies are not. They don’t fit in with a lot of other issues that people would have like unless you have experience treating people who are in the entertainment industry, it’s very hard to understand.

Ariel Landrum 9:39
No, I think that’s important that you point that out. I work with a lot of actors because I am here in Los Angeles and a lot of the boundary setting techniques we have to go over aren’t ones they can use. There’s a certain level of expectation in regards to professionalism and performance that is very different than just traditional customer service. Because your, your your name and your ability to present, whatever the brand is that you’re presenting, is your resume is your docket, and particularly for, for women or female presenting individuals, there’s even more scrutiny, because if you’re considered hard to work with, that becomes your label.

Stefanie Bautista 10:26
Yeah, you’re X out. Yeah. And I mean, I’ve worked in schools that are a little more affluent here in LA. So I work with a lot of parents who are in the industry, whether it’s, you know, script writers, or actors, actresses themselves, and this whole kind of the switch being turned on all the time, kind of carries into their real life and to their kids. So it’s very interesting to see, you know, just the world that, you know, they build around themselves, and, you know, having dealing with that in real life, and kind of like, learning how to draw those boundaries to you know, protect their mental health. So….

Ariel Landrum 11:02
And you mentioned, like sometimes needing to dissociate, it’s like, really like, “When is my mask get to take off? Like, when do I actually get to take it off?” And I would say that, it seems like at least for your responses to the questions and the videos that you’ve made, you’ve been able to be very authentic and genuine probably in a way that is, is different than trying to remember and process like going backwards and then actually having answers now very different.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 11:31
Well, that but also, when you’re in it, when you’re doing it, like there were weeks where I’d work like a 60 or 70 hour week was the same character. So as Lady Tremaine so think. Now granted, we have offset time, we have breaks. But you know, you’re still in the wig and makeup, you’re still, you know, largely on because it’s all improvised. I tried to explain it to people. It’s like you are method acting for 70 hours a week for years at a time. And I say that, because when you are doing a script for a movie, because I’ve done I’ve done, you know, some indie film stuff, I’ve done commercials like local, I’ve done small things. But you’re and I’ve done a lot of musical theater, when you’re performing a script and you step into that character, there is a time where you are no longer that character for the night, because you are following a script. But when you’re improvising as a character, and you’re not sure what people are going to ask you, what they’re going to want to talk to you about, you have to cross that method boundary to becoming that character. And if you are in I found that I was having a hard time after I finally left the company like fully letting her go, if that makes sense. And and I came to find out through the process of doing my Tiktok that I I had let her go. But I hadn’t like really processed what I put myself through in order to cope if that had made any sense.

Ariel Landrum 13:07
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 13:08
Absolutely. Yes.

Ariel Landrum 13:10
I think that it really makes me think of like, nerdy, but like d&d bleed. Where are you, where you have some of your character become you are some of you become your character and finding where the the distinction in the end is, is very difficult, because it’s so now integrated in part of your daily experience. And even with that, like you said, there’s at least you know, there’s going to be an end to the game for you, like, you have this part of your job is how you have to make money. And the scrutiny that that you’ve mentioned in your videos of if someone thinks you did it wrong, even though you’re the one playing the character.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 13:49
Yeah. And it happens. There’s, you’re regularly observed by performance specialists. And you are never told ahead of time when that’s going to happen. So you’ll just be out on set one day, and they’re there. With their little notebook.

Stefanie Bautista 14:07
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 14:08
Can you clock em?

Stefanie Bautista 14:09
Yeah, can you tell like who they are?

Jessica Lady Tremaine 14:12
Oh, yeah, they’re the same people over and over again. But at the same time, you see them out of the corner of your eye, and you’re supposed to ignore them. But it’s impossible.

Stefanie Bautista 14:20
That reminds you of a lot of teacher observations where like your administration would just pop into your classroom at like, the absolute worst time. And you’re just trying to like, keep it together and make sure no one’s like stabbing each other hurting each other. But also, I was thinking about what you mentioned, all of the questions that you may or may not get, you have no idea where this is coming from, or you have no idea like what’s in like a guest mind. And I can really relate because it’s like when kids ask me questions about something I’m trying to teach. I don’t know what they’re gonna say what’s going to come out of their mouth. So have you gotten a very interesting question or a very just left field question that sticks out in your mind that you We’re just like, “Hmm, interesting. Okay.”

Jessica Lady Tremaine 15:04
So, um, the weirdest one actually was asked of me, but it was not about me. So I was leading Tremaine and I got asked a question because somebody got the kid got me mixed up with the Queen from Snow White. And we in Disney, we call her The Snow Queen. That is not her name as just what we call her. But her name is just The Queen. So somebody’s, like, their wires were crossed. And so they looked at me, and they’re just like, “I thought you died at the end.” And I’m like, and then and then I said, I said something to that. “Oh, you must be mistaken. It certainly wasn’t me.” And then they were like, “No, you were that old lady who fell off the cliff and died at the end I saw.” And like yelled at me, but they are nasty. Right. So like, like, taking me to task that I was dead. But, and I do know from people who have played that character, that is a very common thing for people to say, I have played the hag version of that character, which is a fur character costume, but nobody ever asked because she doesn’t talk. So like, nobody ever asked me that.

Stefanie Bautista 16:27
She kind of just hobbles along.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 16:31
They were this child was very aggressively asking, like or not asking, yelling at me. “You died at the end, didn’t you?” Like I was on cross examination. I was being interrogated by the FBI. |You died at the end!” Exactly. So that’s like the weirdest one I’ve ever been asked because like, what do you say to that?

Stefanie Bautista 16:59
“Yes, child. You are right. I am deceased. I am here talking to you now.”

Jessica Lady Tremaine 17:02
“I’m dead. But I didn’t actually die.”

Stefanie Bautista 17:04
Yeah. In the multiverse of Lady Tremaine.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 17:09
People think that Lady Tremaine actually dies at the end. But she obviously doesn’t. But it’s just because they get the movies mixed up. That’s very common.

Ariel Landrum 17:16
Yeah, sure.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 17:19
They get Lady Tremaine and Maleficent mixed up all the time.

Ariel Landrum 17:21
Just for some audience members who don’t know what is the difference between like a face character, a cast member, and then a fur character.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 17:29
So cast member is like the general term for anybody who works at the Disney parks, or works really, for the Walt Disney Company, I think it technically encompasses all of them. But fur character performer, or just a character performer is somebody who performs in for character costumes. So you’re thinking of like Mickey, Minnie Pluto, and the like. And a face character is within the character, performer, family. So everybody who’s a face character is also a fur character, but not every fur character is a face character if that makes sense. Like all rectangles or squares are rectangles kind of thing. So it’s a very specific example.

Stefanie Bautista 18:12
No, I got it right away. I was like, yes.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 18:16
You’re an educator, you get it so. So face characters is like a specialized trained role within the character department.

Ariel Landrum 18:26
Okay, and what sort of like training do you go through.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 18:30
So you go through your standard character training, this is a four character training, it’s a five day training. You know, how to animate quote, unquote, the costume, so how to move in it, how to sign your autographs, things like that, essentially, how to move your characters eye focus, make sure your character’s eyes are looking at the camera, things like that. And then the face character training is an additional week. So an additional five days where the first day or two you are watching the movie, you are working indoors with your trainer, again, learning the signature learning the makeup learning, all the things that go along with that, and then days three through five are in park meet and greets. So you are put out into the park and you are doing meet and greets with guests and your trainer is there watching taking notes and you are getting feedback after every set.

Stefanie Bautista 19:26
Yeah, I mean, that’s all stuff. I’m like just trying to processess on like okay in my brain like drawing this chart of like the family and you know, the different types of cast members. I was really intrigued by your Disney College Program videos. I applied and did not get in because I want law. I think it was because when they asked like have you ever lied or something like that? I honestly said yes, of course. I’ve lied before. And they were like, “I’m sorry, you don’t fit the mold of what we are looking for at Disney”, and I’m like, “All right. So Oh, there’s that.” And I was just so curious to hear you talk about how it’s kind of like, it’s kind of like an apprenticeship that people are severely underpaid for, and that they are basically thrown to the wolves. And it’s like having your first job, but on this grand scale at the Disney resorts in Orlando, so there’s like millions of different jobs you can have. And it’s basically and it makes sense a way to capitalize on that labor, but keeping costs down. So thinking about all of that, and thinking about the way that I guess labor is moving now. Because, you know, there’s lots of, of course, unionizing and all that stuff, but also, for young kids and youth who are starting in the workforce, they’re pushing for a lot more opportunities and fair opportunities for them. So in your opinion, do you think that might change in the next couple of years? Because they are trying to get people back into the park and keeping up appearances and things like that? Or do you think it’s just going to kind of stay the same?

Jessica Lady Tremaine 21:03
I think it’s going to stay the same as long as the college program is as competitive to get into as it is. Now, when I applied for the college program, it was not as competitive to get in, as a general college program to get into entertainment. Yes, it’s just as competitive. But back then, like 2009, was when I applied and I got in January 2010, much less competitive. So that that was that. As far as conditions improving within the college program, I really don’t see that happening. Because there is still going to be a steady stream of kids, young people who want to do a college program, regardless of all of that.

Stefanie Bautista 21:52
I mean, I always, like when I talked to some of my middle schoolers, and these are like, the oldest kids that I deal with. And I love giving them options, because you know, you don’t always have to go the traditional, like, be a teacher, be a doctor, all these routes, I’m like, there’s so many different jobs out there. It’s just what are you willing to put up with? Having worked so many jobs, and I and of course, like working for Disney, like, that’s such a like big dream, and you know, they can’t even like imagine working for like, you know, such a big company like that. So I always try to keep it real with them and say, “Hey, you know, you’re gonna go through the same BS, essentially, wherever you go. It just depends on you know, your willingness to put up with that in order to achieve whatever you want to achieve.” So I think, yeah, I mean, your experiences, would you say, majority was it like worth it?

Jessica Lady Tremaine 22:43
I actually just did a video about this, I, I really do believe that it was worth everything that I went through. I just was recently speaking with someone about it. Honestly, it set me up for so many opportunities that I otherwise would never have had. And it really gave me a lot to teach my students because I’m still a dance teacher, I still work with students. So honestly, it really set me up with a lot of real world advice that I could give to them. And really, a lot of stories like, I can’t tell you how many times I get DMs, from people who are saying like, “I’ve always wanted to be a Disney performer. And they’re like, you’re making me have second thoughts.” And I always encourage them, they really want to do it to still do it. The purpose of what I do and my content is to share the realities, because I think what was the most harmful for me and a lot of other face characters who are on TikTok is that we were sold a fantasy, which is what Disney does, yeah, we were sold a fantasy as a job. Instead of these are the problems that you will face, this is what you’re actually getting into. So that is that is what I see my space in the world as.

Ariel Landrum 24:11
With the training that you received, because it just seems like like five to 10 days just doesn’t seem like enough is do they talk about you know how to address interactions with the community that aren’t favorable or what your have a like what rights you have as a cast member?

Jessica Lady Tremaine 24:35
Can I ask a clarifying question or so do you mean within like, interacting with guests or interacting with other cast members?

Ariel Landrum 24:46
With guests.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 24:47
Okay. Yes, they do go over things like that. And that is a part of your training that you’re doing behind the scenes with with those, those trainers. A lot of times they will say things like, “Okay, what would you do if a guest came up and tried to touch you.” And they’ll give you an example. So I’ve had it happen a lot to me, where a lot of male guests have have assaulted me and in different ways. The problem is, is that it happens so fast, that a lot of times you cannot control. It’s not You’re not meet, doing a meet and greet in a bubble, right? There are factors, there are children running around, there are people taking pictures, there are autographs being done. And they do teach you how to get out of it. But getting out of it assumes that all other factors are not involved, right. So if a man comes up and tries to grab you, you would then offer your arm, you would move you what your attendant would say something, but they don’t tell you or really, there’s really no way to teach you how to do that, while you have two children’s teeth talking to you, and you’re signing an autograph book while this person is doing this to you. So it’s there’s a lot of extra factors that they don’t, they can’t prepare you for even as much as they would want to. It’s just really not possible.

Ariel Landrum 26:17
As, as a clinician, I have to do this thing called informed consent, where I have to know let my clients know what they’re going to expect out of therapy, even so much so that I will tell them that you may not feel good right away. In fact, we’re unpacking so much stuff, you might feel worse, you might change and the people around you may not like it, the it may not always be good. Do you feel like you got full informed consent on what what the interactions would be? Or what it would be like?

Jessica Lady Tremaine 26:48
No, they they did not. And I will say that back when I started, that was not a thing that people really discussed. I have since learned in my many years in therapy, that a lot of a lot of things were really done that that that could have caused more issues than even just the job itself. So for example, not only the informed consent, but ongoing support from management just was not there. Some you would experience sexual assault, and then largely either be blamed for it blamed for not controlling the interaction. Or umm told you still had to get back out there and complete your set or you would be receiving a discussion or reprimand. So there theoretically, even if there was not informed consent, there should have been systems in place to fix that. And they’re largely weren’t.

Ariel Landrum 27:59
Do you see that changing now? Well, like do you know, people who are active characters now that have more preparation or more support from management? And I also do want to highlight that also, it’s kind of a society thing, right? Like here, I’m telling you that I need support because I’ve been assaulted, and I’m not getting it.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 28:19
Well, I think that people take sexual assault more seriously now than they did. Um, so I will say that, but I I think that the rise of character vlogging and character interactions on social media has actually made the problem worse because it has caused a lot of internet personalities who don’t know the characters really don’t understand what their life is like to go and get sensationalized viral content from the character which can cause a lot of mental distress and can cause potentially job loss. And management largely has not caught up with supporting the cast members in that way. And I get DMs from performers on a weekly basis saying that they are still getting discussions and reprimands for viral videos of them.

Ariel Landrum 29:14
Which is not within your control. And so do you think that former cast members like yourself, advocating on behalf of the community does that create some sort of change or pretty much upper management and higher ups are not looking at that stuff and probably don’t care?

Jessica Lady Tremaine 29:36
I don’t think they’re looking at it but what it has done and I’m sure you’ve seen I get a lot of flack for this. It has made it much less socially acceptable. So a lot of these vloggers will post a character video and people are now starting to if not, not watching the video, they’re flooding the comments saying, “This is inappropriate. You should not be sharing this.” But I was seeing some vloggers recently their character content is content is just not doing well, like it’s comparatively since you know, in the last few months they have really kind of taken a nosedive in views and engagement. And I hope that me speaking out is making it and others speaking out, not just me is making it less socially acceptable.

Ariel Landrum 30:24
I’m, I’m curious because there’s an intentionality to get views, right? Are there interactions that you just see with characters that people post or that isn’t a objective and happens to be a good interaction, or as a general rule that if it’s a video, it’s probably going to be scrutinized either way, so kind of avoid that.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 30:46
So it’s a gray area, and my philosophy Ariel is that if it’s a gray area, don’t post it. That is just my, because Tiktok has made it so easy to go viral, even if you’re not intending to go viral. And it is causing issues, but it’s not people necessarily doing it on purpose. Because, as you know, you know, as a as a therapist and clinician intention does not, it doesn’t really matter, because the implications are what matter. And so the intention of the poster is not the thing that I am concerned with, it’s the implications of this being posted. So the implications.

Ariel Landrum 31:32
Not intent but impact.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 31:34
Right, so the impact is, more people are going to performers trying to get viral content, they are posting characters more and more, they’re bombarding them with cameras on a regular basis, which is stressful, which is stressful for the performers. As cute as it is, um, it can be very stressful to have a camera on you all day, in addition to the job being as difficult as it is.

Stefanie Bautista 32:01
I mean, I can only imagine it’s just like a different set of eyes. And you never know where and I feel like it almost infringes on your privacy almost. And even knowing that you are a performer, you are entertainer, you are putting yourself out there. But you would think that there would be still a layer of protection. I mean, I’m wondering, because during the pandemic, we saw a lot of the characters very far away. They were like, you know, in that, like Winnie the Pooh was like in the forest, or like in a clearing or things like that. Do you know of anybody who has played those characters very far away that? Do they like that a little bit better? Or do they kind of wish it like stayed that way? Or do they miss that face to face interaction?

Jessica Lady Tremaine 32:46
I do know a few people who have done that. And I would say it’s, it’s it. On one hand, they do like the freedom of wandering and for knowing that they’re not really going to be knocked over, they’re not going to experience some of the physical problems that come with interacting with guests. I will say, though, that a big part of the enjoyment for the actual performer is interacting with children, it’s fun for us at the end of the day, like all of the issues surrounding it, are what they are, but at the end of the day, it’s still fun for us. So I would say that they are enjoying that. They were enjoying that, like new type of interaction. But I think some of them are anxious to get back to some modified form of meet and greet.

Stefanie Bautista 33:38
I mean, I guess moving into sort of like the same topic. I know that you talked about weird Disney adults, I mean, like the super super fans, when, you know, if somebody asked like, do you and your fellow characters go to the break room and be like, “Girl, I got to tell you about this, you know, person, that person or whatever.” Because, you know, in every job I’ve worked, you know, we do that. I mean, as educators, we do do that as well. So, do you have a memorable interaction with somebody who really loved you as a villain who just like adored you, and like, kind of was just like, in awe of you like whether it was an adult or a child and like how did that make you feel knowing that you know, you are playing a villain? And like you said, Because you are a villain you’re automatically viewed as something but did you get like the opposite effect at any point?

Jessica Lady Tremaine 34:30
So first, I want to I want to that’s that’s got a couple levels. Let’s start at the beginning. So um, I would not say that the Disney adults even like the really fanatical ones get talked about because characters are so preoccupied with talking about like, the weird guests and I say that like, like you’ve worked in a in a place where you’ve interacted with someone who just made it weird. Those are the things that we would talk about, either are treating us strangely, or just like, those are the ones that we talk about, but not necessarily in a malicious way, just like, “Hey, did you see that?” Like, like that kind of thing? Um, the ones that get talked about in a malicious way are the ones who are either just mean or honestly, a lot of the vloggers that are not very kind, and they get talked about a lot. But on that, so second half of that, yes. So I will tell you a quick story. So when I would often be at Mickey’s not so scary Halloween party. The two remains were a big part of that. There was a family where the there was a mom and an Aunt, Aunt aunt. And they were dressed as the stepsisters. And they’re like nine or 10 year old, one of their daughters was dressed as Lady Tremaine. Now, she was not only dressed as Lady Tremaine, I mean, she was in her blue dress that she wears to the ball. So if you go back, watch the movie. It’s like that bluish gray dress that she wears to the ball…

Ariel Landrum 36:22
Deep cut.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 36:22
She had her hair slicked back and rolled up like in those those victory rolls and a bun the back and had her hair sprayed gray. And she had a stuffed Lucifer with her. And she was fully made up like, looks like a little baby drag queen. It was super cute. And I still have a picture with them. Actually, I have it. It’s great. But so that interaction was fantastic. Because the mom and the aunt who were the stepsisters, they just like so leaned into the step sister vibe. And love and the little girl did not know what to say what to say to me. Like she was just like, “Okay, I’m going to take a picture now I’m gonna hold this cat.” She did not know what to say to me. But the mom and the aunt were having so much fun that it just like, it just took it to another level. I also loved for the Not So Scary when I would get a drag queen Lady Tremaine that would come see me that happened a couple of times, those were always the best, because they always wanted to talk forever. So I was absolutely happy living in that space, for sure.

Stefanie Bautista 37:40
I love it when parents dress up their kids, as you know, these complex characters, they really fully understand, like, who they’re playing. And so when they meet that character, they’re just like, they don’t know what to do. They don’t know what to say. And I see that a lot in cosplay conventions, and you know, comic book conventions, where, you know, you have a kid and like the coolest costume ever, but then it’s like, they’re just hobbling, walking around like a little kid like normal. So it’s very interesting to see the different avenues. And of course, when adults around them hype them up, it just creates that magic.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 38:17
It’s adorable. It’s it honestly, is one of my best memories is all of those, those fun ones.

Ariel Landrum 38:24
Kiddos.

Stefanie Bautista 38:27
I know that for myself growing up, I wasn’t the one to go up to a character, it was very hard for me to you know, know what to ask. I wasn’t when I would take a picture with them. But I wouldn’t like know how to interact. Would you use different strategies to help a kid kind of interact with you a little bit more if they were reluctant? Or was it just more so like, I’m not going to force this on a kid if they if they just don’t want to engage.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 38:51
So it’s two sided. I, if a child was clearly uncomfortable, I did not want to interact, but then the parents would often force me to interact like they were not willing to accept like me walking away. So I would often just start narrating which I do with my son now who is Autistic. And like, I would just essentially do some sort of like narration so I would sit like just talk and answer a question that I asked as if they had answered it. So for example, “Are you doing well? Are you having a wonderful day? I’m having a wonderful day as well. Thank you so much for asking.” Like I would just keep the conversation going as though they had answered. And I think it disarmed them a little bit, because if they didn’t feel like I was standing there waiting for an answer. They just were like, okay, like they just kind of dealt with it. I also I didn’t speak very loudly as my character the stepsisters have a harder time with that. But I, I was already largely quiet. But the problem with Lady Tremaine is if she’s too quiet, then she becomes terrifying. So I tried to live terrify. So if I wanted to be terrifying, I just stopped talking. That was like a thing. You just stop talking and people are terrified of you. Because there’s nothing scarier than something that you see as scary. That is not making noise or moving.

Stefanie Bautista 40:31
That’s a total mom move. That’s a teacher move.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 40:34
And I was 21 years old, like I was 20 to 24. So like, you know, I was very young when I was doing it.

Stefanie Bautista 40:42
Yeah. Actually, I did want to ask you about that. How was it playing a mother with two adult children? As the age that you were? Did you really have to, like, study a little bit or even pull from your own experiences? Because, you know, she’s she’s, she’s a mom with a lot of baggage.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 41:03
She’s a mom, but she’s not a mom. So she’s a mom in the biological sense, right? But she’s not nurturing. So that was easy. She’s not nurturing. She’s not motherly in any of her interactions. Really. She’s not patient. She’s not kind she’s not compassionate. So she’s not any of these things we associate with mother’s. So honestly, her her short temper, her kind of stoic nature, her sarcasm, her quick wit are things actually associated with a lot of younger people a lot of times, and, and since I was a trained actor at the time, I just leaned into the funny parts of her. I know I’ve talked about this before, but I played her. Almost like, like Dorothy from Golden Girls, or, or Jessica Walters character in Arrested Development, Lucille Bluth. Like I kind of played it like that just like very, like, Country Club, old lady. And that’s kind of like what I leaned into, if that makes sense.

Ariel Landrum 42:23
No, totally makes sense. I actually like Dorothy.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 42:28
I do too. I vibe with her very well. But that’s kind of like the character that I like leaned into.

Ariel Landrum 42:34
I think that’s really important that you highlight the that she isn’t the like the mother archetype. Because if we’re talking about the mother archetype, that is usually seen as like this intrinsic feminine ancient energy of Safe Space nurturing, and protection, and creativity. And she really wasn’t those things, there was a lot of just hardness there was a lot of what we would call the shadow part of that mother archetype. Where there there isn’t there isn’t nurture, there isn’t presence, there isn’t willing to problem solve, oh, no collaboration.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 43:17
I will say that there is a certain part of her character, though, that I did find a lot of compassion for and that is, like, you have to imagine, they gloss over it in the films, but they, you have to imagine a woman in France in that time period. Having lost two husbands within a few years, really. Her entire livelihood is based on being married to a person of wealth, she’s lost her first husband, who presumably she was very, we are closer with right has two children had two children with and her second husband I know they touched on this in the live action film was clearly a marriage for security and wealth and, and things like that, which was common back then. But um, you have to imagine the amount of fear number one that is instilled in in a woman of that time period, who is losing her ability to feed herself and her daughters. And then the reality that you mean, you may become destitute and not marry again, and so you your entire survival is wrapped up in your daughter’s marrying someone of that caliber. So you can see where her level of obsession grew at that point. So that is essentially where I found a lot of compassion for her. Because a lot of people are the victims of their own circumstances, you know, victims of things that happen to them in their lives. And I think that that can be said for most villains is they are all the aftermath of a lot of negative happenings.

Ariel Landrum 45:07
Yeah, yeah. Aftermath of the patriarchy.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 45:10
Exactly. Exactly.

Stefanie Bautista 45:13
For sure, and you know, all of those things are very important to consider and I’m glad that you know you, you do take time period into consideration even though you’re playing her in real life, you still have to be consciously living in that time period when you do play her. I know that one of the things that I I was thinking about watching your your Tik Tok videos was when you were talking about the costumes, and how there were like, the costumes of before, like when Disney first started, like the really scary Mickey heads and you know, like terrifying like, Donald like, Who would want to, you know, I mean, having a gown evolve, even though it is set in a certain time period. Did they make adjustments to make it comfortable for you, since you are working these crazy hours and in the heat, and you know, what the elements of Orlando, I mean, did you really have to think I need to play this, you know, French woman in, you know, the 1700s and kind of live with that, or was there like a reprieve?

Jessica Lady Tremaine 46:21
So honestly, the dress is very uncomfortable, it is very thick satin, and it’s long sleeved and comes up to the neck, it goes down to the ankles, there was a hipcage element that is not film accurate. That they added just for silhouette reasons. But I will say it did pull the bottom half of the dress away from your body. But you do have to wear all of the corresponding undergarments bloomers tights, and the like. And it is Orlando, and it is often 95 degrees with 100% humidity and you are doing a parade route. But I will say that the discomfort of the costume and the makeup and the wig and everything else made it very easy to be unpleasant. I would say the princesses probably have a harder time because they have to be pleasant. I was able to lean into the time. Yeah, I was able to allow myself to be annoyed. Because clearly I was uncomfortable. Like I mean, you can like I know that people listening can’t see this. But I have a picture behind me of a painting somebody did of Lady Termaine of me as Lady Termaine. And you can just see, if you go back and look at photos of me. On my Instagram, you’ll see like the costume just looks unyielding. And it is.

Stefanie Bautista 47:49
Yeah, I mean, you had the RBF on and it was part of your character. And it worked for you. And I love that that was a silver lining, because I feel for those princesses every single time they are just standing and waving and pretending everything is great. But ooh sweat, I cannot.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 48:08
Absolutely.

Ariel Landrum 48:09
And I’m curious for all the parks. Is the training the same? Like even just internationally? Or is there a difference in the way that the cast members and particularly the characters are supposed to interact? Or is it very formulaic?

Jessica Lady Tremaine 48:26
It is very different. So it’s not like in the American parks, it’s fairly similar because it’s, there’s similar social norms in the US. When you go to Hong Kong Disneyland, or Tokyo or Disneyland Paris, there are other social customs that they need to make you aware of now, I’ve not gone through the training myself, but I have heard about it secondhand, they do have to talk about certain things that are considered inappropriate in those countries. Like, you know, like, in some countries, like a peace sign is inappropriate, depending on how you have it. You know, I mean, there’s like a lot of local social and cultural things that you have to learn.

Ariel Landrum 49:05
Did Stef when you went international did you notice a difference?

Stefanie Bautista 49:09
I mean, I remember them not being around so much when I was in Tokyo and in Paris, but at the same time, I always traveled there in the winter. So I could only imagine how difficult it would be to be standing out there in like, almost snowy weather, and you know, being in character, but I mean, I did appreciate that when I did see them like in a parade or something they would be, you know, fully rubbed up. And you know, Jasmine wasn’t looking like Jasmine, she has like a bull like coat on. And it was nice, but I think that was the reason why I didn’t interact with those characters because I was in another country so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect for myself. And the language barrier was kind of like I couldn’t put myself in, you know, Disneyland mode here because we have customs and norms that are okay, and we can you know, strike up a conversation. I I didn’t know if that was okay over there. So I never really went to venture. But if I ever go back there, I’ll definitely see if you know, there, there is a difference, because I know that a lot of cast members here do travel over there to to get work, especially if they have the right. Look.

Ariel Landrum 50:18
I know Jessica, you mentioned earlier a little bit that, that you’re in therapy that you are working in processing through some of your experiences. I’m curious if you want to share a little bit about your mental health history and what you would want to say to like the audience members, especially people in the entertainment industry.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 50:35
Yeah, absolutely. I’m very open even on my TikTok about the mental health implications of my time in entertainment. And, and I like to take the experiences that I’ve had and try and educate you know, people coming up in the industry now, especially my students. I had was diagnosed with body dysmorphia, and I also have PTSD. And my body dysmorphia is associated with my time not only at Disney, but my time as a dancer. So growing up in a lot of dance, a lot of physical scrutiny, essentially my, my image of my body and the way that I look not matching up with with reality, which is hard, because when you’re in an industry that’s constantly asking you to lose or gain or do this or do that it’s very, very hard. And so that has been quite a difficult journey. But I will say that the PTSD part is directly from my time at the parks, it does surround I’ve had some claustrophobia, that’s, that’s stemmed from that in large crowds. Because there is a lot of unconsented, grabbing from guests, that is largely uncontrolled. And like I said, the management is not really super supportive, if you do say, “Hey, this happened to me.” So a lot of times you just internalize it, and it’s now become, I have a lot of very crazy physical triggers. And it kind of can come out of nowhere. It, it doesn’t come out of nowhere, but it feels like it comes out of nowhere. And that’s something that I try to talk about people, largely, trolls in my comment section are like, “Well, you if you can’t handle it, you should never have the job.” Well, no, that’s not how that works, really, the job should be a healthy job. And people shouldn’t have to expect to experience trauma or mental illness or eating disorders from a job. Because and largely these people who are saying these things have no idea what it’s like to be in an industry, they don’t have, they’ve never grown up in that they don’t know what it takes to be a performer, all of the scrutiny, all of the auditions, all of the rejection. So it’s very easy to speak from the other side of your keyboard. But in reality, there is a lot of mental health damage that stems directly from the unhealthy processes that they do have set up there. And they still have to this day. And I really feel like there is a lot of room for growth. And I hope that you know, one of my suggestions or my videos reaches Disney, and they begin to really take it seriously and say, Hey, maybe we need to look at ourselves.

Ariel Landrum 53:43
Yeah, I’m curious for for the benefits were there is there like an employee assistance program where you got access to like a therapist or anything like that, that, you know, might have been implemented now.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 53:56
Um, they had insurance for part time and full time cast members, but at the time, largely, a lot of us were seasonal. And we didn’t have access to that. I think that it would be great if they had therapists. They have physical therapists available for all performers throughout the day, but they do not have they do not have anybody for mental health, which I think would really be a huge deal on days when when really traumatic events happen.

Ariel Landrum 54:27
That’s a job I need to make. Well, I’ll just pin that.

Stefanie Bautista 54:30
Write that one down. Oh, yeah.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 54:32
Put it on the vision board.

Ariel Landrum 54:34
Right on the vision board.

Stefanie Bautista 54:35
Yeah for sure.

Ariel Landrum 54:36
It makes me think of when a sports psychologists who are accessible to the Yeah, I was gonna say the supporters close enough to the to the athletes. I follow. She is the sports psychologist for like Cirque du Soleil, and really talking about the experience of being a performer of when you’ve injured yourself and what that could mean for your career, having to talk about dynamics between performers, between like team members and groups, and it has really made longevity in the career for some of the performers that previously you didn’t have access to that.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 55:18
Yeah, absolutely. I think that people don’t see actors and dancers in the same light that they see acrobats and football players and the like. So I’m hoping that we’re moving towards better mental health in the theatre community. But it’s, it’s hard because people in theater community are great actors. So you don’t always know when there’s a problem. It’s not clear. So

Stefanie Bautista 55:48
Good point.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 55:49
Which I you know, Ariel, you probably know, it’s sometimes hard to, to pull out honest and genuine statements from somebody who’s an actor, because they are inclined to put on a performance. And it’s, it’s hard for us to let our guard down and just be, be authentically ourselves.

Ariel Landrum 56:12
Yeah, this is where there’s a difference between individual change and systemic change. Because individually, if you, there’s a fear that if they put their guard down, I’m still stepping into the same environment. But now am I going to is it going to be harder for me to put it back up, it’s just a lot easier to keep it.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 56:28
Exactly.

Stefanie Bautista 56:29
That’s something that naturally comes after a while. So that’s like your go to, but I mean, I think you’re doing a great job, you’re reaching so many people. And, you know, these stories are, you know, absolutely essential for, you know, past members past, you know, even just Disney goers in general, and, you know, looking into the future and seeing the ways that we now interact as adults, and how we’re interacting with our children, and you know, the different perspectives that we never really thought of before coming to light, so that we’re a little more mindful when we are, you know, trying to enjoy ourselves, because us enjoying ourselves may not be enjoyable for somebody else. And it comes sometimes at the expense of not just your wallet, but also you know, people and you know, their experiences, I think the whole, you know, well roundedness of participating in something like that is I feel essential for anybody who is putting themselves in that environment on either side. So the information out there is just, you know, so invaluable to have it’s just, you cannot replace those things like you cannot make this issue up. So yeah, you know, it’s it’s good to open your eyes and listen, and you know, it totally gives me a different perspective. And I’m actually going to be visiting Disney World in about a month or two. So it’s been quite a while and now I’m visiting with my son who, before I did not have a child in tow. So we’ll see how that goes. Definitely less drinking at Epcot. That’s the only thing on my mind.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 58:07
Yeah, I’ve been there, I have two children. So I completely understand

Ariel Landrum 58:12
Any any do’s and don’ts, you want to give a Stef for her experience with her little one toe?

Jessica Lady Tremaine 58:19
Um, give him a lot of breaks. And that is not just for you. But that is a thing that I’ve noticed is a problem with a lot of people who come to Disney and Universal and really all the parks is that they they don’t allow themselves any room to breathe. And it’s because they’ve spent so much money and because it is they want to do everything and I get that worth the dollar. I get that however, when your child at three o’clock in the afternoon is having a gigantic meltdown because they haven’t had a break. Without any stimulation or without too much stimulation, it is a nightmare. Because then you can’t bring them back then you can’t do anything else. Because then they’re done for the day. So my best suggestion is the hottest part of the day, go somewhere else either go back to your resort, get a late lunch like a three o’clock lunch. And I say that because I have been that parent who’s want to do a full day and it never works out especially with young children. Just give them the space to recover because they are experiencing so much sensory wise. The sounds the sights, the people like it’s just a lot for them. And they get overloaded super easily. So yeah, that would be my suggestion.

Stefanie Bautista 59:46
Thank you. I think that’s something to keep in mind because we’re coming from just two parks here across the way to like five parks and you got to take a bus in between all of them or drive or.

Jessica Lady Tremaine 59:59
Oh Honestly, I can’t speak highly enough of resort hopping for your break. So you don’t have to do the same one every day. But if you just go and you sit at the Polynesian in the lobby, or whatever, that one’s my favorite. So I’m partial to or if you go to the Grand Floridian and you listen to the pianist, or you just kind of walk around and do something a lot more low key like, yeah, it’s, it’s a great option.

Stefanie Bautista 1:00:30
Yeah, for sure. I love that. Thank you so much. I’m definitely gonna take that to heart all the way. And I’m so excited now with this new perspective on you know, just, I feel like the differences between Disney Land and Disney World really are not that much. It’s just the perspectives are so much different when you’re looking at it on a grand scale. So, I mean, being an avid Disneyland goer, and I always have a different experience when I go to Disney World. And, you know, it’s just given a lot of different just different points, points of view and things to consider every time you go there. It’ll you know, now having this perspective will definitely help make you know my experience and hopefully the experiences of the cast members who are working so so hard to keep the parks open and also have their own jobs.

Ariel Landrum 1:01:20
So, audience members if you have learned anything today please DM us at G…

Stefanie Bautista 1:01:30
@HappiestPodGT.

Ariel Landrum 1:01:31
What Stef said, @HappiestPodGT or tweet at us @HappiestPodGT. A please please follow Jessica on TikTok for TremaineTok, on Instagram TremaineTokJessica, or YouTube Tremaine Tok in order to learn more on how to interact with cast members, and how to be an advocate for their mental health and wellness. Jessica, is there anything else you want to add before we end?

Jessica Lady Tremaine 1:01:57
No, that’s it. Thank you so much for having me. It’s really been a pleasure. And yeah, I’m excited to hear the episode when it comes out.

Stefanie Bautista 1:02:05
We loved having you. Thank you.

Ariel Landrum 1:02:09
Bye, everybody.

Stefanie Bautista 1:02:10
Bye.

Media/Characters Mentioned
  • Lady Tremaine
  • Evil Step Sisters
  • Anastasia
  • Drizella
  • Snow Queen
  • The Evil Queen
Topics/Themes Mentioned
  • DND Bleed
  • Dissociation
  • PTSD
  • Panic attacks
  • Assault
  • Sexual assault
  • Healthy work environment
  • Access to mental health
  • Working with the public
  • Therapy

Questions? Comments? Discuss this episode on the GT Forum.

—

 Website: happy.geektherapy.com
 | Instagram: @HappiestPodGT | Twitter: @HappiestPodGT | Facebook: @HappiestPodGT |
 | Stef on Twitter: @stefa_kneee | Ariel on Instagram: @airyell3000 |
 | Jessica on Instagram: @TremaineTokJessica | on TikTok: @TremaineTok | on YouTube: @TremaineTok

Geek Therapy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit with the mission of advocating for the effective and meaningful use of popular media in therapeutic, educational, and community practice.
| GT Facebook: @GeekTherapy | GT Twitter: @GeekTherapy |
| GT Forum: forum.geektherapy.com  | GT Discord: geektherapy.com/discord |

We DO Talk About Bruno Reprise

February 4, 2022 · Discuss on the GT Forum

https://media.blubrry.com/happypod/media.transistor.fm/ff039185/6ae8d066.mp3

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#28: Ariel, Stef, and past host Josué team up for a second time to do a deeper dive into Disney’s Encanto. In this episode, themes of dysfunctional family roles, inner child archetypes, and how to inspire students and clients to discover their own inner talents.

Episode 26 is part one of this two-part Encanto deep dive, where we discuss our reaction to, and highlight themes from the movie.

Read the blog post for this episode for additional references and resources.

Resources for this episode:

  1. Kulture Karaoke
  2. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  3. The Art of Disney’s Encanto by Juan Pablo Reyes Lancaster Jones
  4. How To Do The Work by Dr. Nicole LePera

Become a member of Geek Therapy on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/geektherapy

Transcription

Stefanie Bautista 0:11
Hello, everyone, welcome to the Happiest Pod on Earth. I’m Stef.

Ariel Landrum 0:16
I’m Ariel.

Josué Cardona 0:17
And I’m Josué.

Stefanie Bautista 0:18
And I’m an educator who uses passions and fandoms to help my students grow and learn about themselves and the world around them.

Ariel Landrum 0:24
And I’m a therapist who uses a client’s passions and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma.

Josué Cardona 0:29
And I’m a former educator and former therapist who teaches other educators and therapists to use their passions and fandoms in their work.

Ariel Landrum 0:35
And Happiest Pod is a place where we dissect Disney mediums with a critical lens.

Stefanie Bautista 0:40
Why do we do that? Because just like we are more than just fans, we expect more from the mediums we consume.

Josué Cardona 0:46
So team, what is the experience are we discussing today?

Ariel Landrum 0:49
This is the We DO talk About Bruno Reprise. We’re bringing Encanto back.

Josué Cardona 0:54
A sequal?

Stefanie Bautista 0:55
Oh, dang!

Josué Cardona 0:55
Para te dos?

Stefanie Bautista 0:56
Before we even knew we were gonna get one.

Josué Cardona 0:59
What?

Stefanie Bautista 1:01
Lucky, lucky you all. You got your sequal before the sequal.

Josué Cardona 1:07
Encan-dos!

Ariel Landrum 1:07
Encan-dos!

Stefanie Bautista 1:08
I like it! I like it!

Josué Cardona 1:14
Don’t use. Cut it out.

Ariel Landrum 1:15
No I’m keeping it.

Stefanie Bautista 1:18
Too late. I don’t know about you all but it has been everywhere it has not left is in and around. I hear it every day at school. We don’t talk about Bru-No, no, no, every single day Monday through Friday. The kids love it. And I mean, I think it’s the gift that keeps on giving. Like we mentioned before.

Ariel Landrum 1:39
I was walking my dog with my roommate the other day and some kids were playing musical chairs with the we don’t talk about Bruno song. And literally I heard I would say six tiny little voices go “Isabela, your boyfriend is here!” All sounds even the music stopped and it was like, “A chair!”

Josué Cardona 2:02
I don’t think we talked about last time. I’m like that song was charting, right? Like it was it was on the chart on the Billboard charts like it was on the radio.

Stefanie Bautista 2:10
I have a fast fact about that.

Ariel Landrum 2:12
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 2:12
So currently, we don’t talk about Bruno has 100 million streams. And that’s Apple, Spotify. SoundCloud. What have you? Disney Radio! So 100 million. I’m pretty sure. That’s probably changed by right now as I’m talking, but…

Josué Cardona 2:32
I appreciate the shout out to Disney Radio. Yeah, it keeps on giving. I had a huge epiphany about it today. I had therapy earlier today, and I brought up the stuff and then I was listening to the soundtrack in preparation for this conversation. And I Oh, it was like, You gotta be kidding, there’s still stuff in like, I didn’t see or I didn’t realize before.

Ariel Landrum 2:56
Like what? Share!

Josué Cardona 2:57
You know, what we talked about all the different abilities and, and, you know, I’m, I’m sticking to my version, that each of them are used to to uphold this illusion, right? That Abuela that I what I wants to protect everybody by any means. So every every ability to make that more possible. And one that I really didn’t think about was Julieta’s power. Like, and I kind of like I feel like we just like talked over it. But then it’s in the first song in the Family Madrigal, where Maribel just says real quick, like, “Oh, like she makes everything better with food.” I was like oh, that’s it, you avoid talking about stuff, right? You just you just you just cook something up, you just make a meal, you just sit down. And we don’t talk about it at the Eat this and you’re and you know, forget about it. What? And then so this morning, when I was meeting with my therapist, I was talking about basically I developed a eating disorder that I was diagnosed with. And I attribute it I’ve always attributed it to the fact that when I was a kid and my parents were getting divorced, I was six years old and my mom my grandmother just would feed me just constantly just to make me feel better. And like I gained so much weight and like I still have stretch marks from when I was that that small. And and it’s been something that I’ve struggled with always and but it’s that it’s, Oh, I’ll make it better. Don’t worry, I’ll cook you something. Let me make you something right we don’t need to talk about it. I’m not gonna tell you the truth. We’re not gonna fix it. We’re not gonna address it. But eat this.” I was like, “Damnit. It was right there!” Like I didn’t think about how obvious that version of who you know what, who yet does roll there is but it’s still it’s it’s another version of we don’t talk about anything.

Stefanie Bautista 4:51
We tamp it down.

Josué Cardona 4:52
And the version in the in the movie is is so is so harmful because it literally fixes things.

Ariel Landrum 5:00
Yes. Yeah. Yes.

Josué Cardona 5:01
Right. But superficial and physical things, you know?

Stefanie Bautista 5:04
It causesyou to not confront it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean.

Josué Cardona 5:08
“How did you get hurt? Don’t worry about it, eat this. It’s fixed.”

Ariel Landrum 5:10
The best way to shut up piehole is to put a pie in.

Stefanie Bautista 5:15
I feel like that’s a running joke in Filipino culture where, if you, if you argue or you get in trouble with any of your elders, they don’t apologize to you, they just their way of apologizing is, have you eaten yet? And that’s all you’re gonna get. Because they’re choosing to keep you alive by feeding you. That’s all the sorry, you’re gonna get for whatever conflict there is, especially if it’s, you know, the fault it lies on the adults, they’ll they won’t admit that. They’ll just say, “Have you eaten yet?” Pop in and you don’t have to say yes. But most likely you will end up eventually going out because you’ll get hungry. So you don’t talk about it. You don’t resolve the conflict, you just eat the food in silence and go about your day.

Ariel Landrum 6:00
Well, it’s interesting because when it came time for the big confrontation with Mirabel and Abuela Alma essentially the person who attempts to protect Mirabel is her dad not her mom. He’s the one who essentially steps up and starts looking for her he and and even when they found the prophecy, he’s the one who’s trying to make sure that she’s okay. He’s out looking for her and making an looking out for her where as Julieta is out, this essentially looking out for the family, even when it was when she cut herself. It was because Alma gave her that look of like, “You better to handle this. You better take care of this. You take her away from the party in the group. And you you essentially settle her down.

Stefanie Bautista 6:52
Hmm.

Josué Cardona 6:53
Yeah, this movie.

Ariel Landrum 7:01
So in doing this reprise, I think first something that we didn’t talk too much about, we focused on last time really like one specific song. And I think that I’d found some information about some of the other songs that was really interesting. Sort of like Easter eggs, or like, I don’t know, cameos, shout outs. I don’t. So the first one is that in the Family Madrigal, when Abuela, almost sings her verse, it’s in the same melody as Dos Oruguitas.

Josué Cardona 7:33
It’s true. Hmmhmm.

Stefanie Bautista 7:34
Yup. Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 7:36
So a little bit of foreshadowing there.

Josué Cardona 7:39
No only foreshadowing, because I just listened to the sound track like four times and for recording. While looking at the lyrics as they were playing through. And she, she very clearly outlined in that, in that in the the melody of Dos Oruguitas in that first song, but how we have to work hard to maintain this miracle. Right it’s like, “Things things are rough. We can’t We can’t do that again. Oh, yeah. Thanks.” That’s right. In the in the opening scene, you, you told this was going on.

Stefanie Bautista 8:13
Yup.

Ariel Landrum 8:14
And what her belief system was in regards to the families role. And then in the Waiting on a Miracle, you hear, Mirabel say “I would move the mountains. Make new trees and flowers grow. I would heal what’s broken show this family something new.” And, you know, we saw the river that nobody had ever seen before. Where Abuelo Pedro had passed away. We she definitely moved the mountain she broke it apart. And by you know, having a connection stronger with her sister Isabela, she actually grew trees which until that point, we didn’t really see Isabela grow anything but flowers. And even when you go into her room, it’s all like the topiary essentially flowers.

Stefanie Bautista 9:02
I can even see her talking about I would move mountains how she moved her strongest sister. How she was able to break through that because she was such a, like a steady rock for the entire family. And how she moved her when no one else could she couldn’t even do it herself, Luisa. So she might have foreshadowed that as well.

Josué Cardona 9:23
Yeah, metaphorically. Yeah, I think I think that even if you take it literally as if, because we talked about last time, how everybody’s using their powers in an unhealthy way. So she’s like, “If, if I if I could, I would move the mountains that are blocking everything. If I had the ability to make plants grow, I’d make new trees and new stuff like that,” right? It’s like, literally, “I can see what everybody’s powers are. And I would use them differently. If I if I could heal with food or whatever. I would heal what’s broken.” Right? Like “We don’t we don’t talk about what’s broken. We don’t actually address anything that’s broken. I would actually heal what is broken. If I if I could and show this family, maybe something new.” But like, I think it’s a completely different perspective. Like we said last time, it’s like you can see the things happening. But the way that people are talking about is is, is the warped version is like, no, we don’t actually, there’s, it’s not the truth.

Ariel Landrum 10:24
Yeah, yeah. All right, I get in with again, in the Family Madrigal, she says, “This is my family, a perfect constellation. So many stars, and everybody gets to shine.” But at the end, when we’re at All of You, she says, “Look at this family, a glowing constellation. So full of stars, and everybody wants to shine. But the stars don’t shine, they burn and the constellations shift. I think it’s time you learn, you’re more than just your gifts.” So we definitely see this idea of perfection in the first song and like everybody being allowed to be individuals. And in reality, we don’t get to see them be individuals. They are only their gifts, and it’s only the way that Al, Abuela Alma interprets them.

Stefanie Bautista 11:13
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 11:14
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 11:14
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 11:15
nother little interesting thing about that specific part when she says burn, she sings it at the exact same melody and tone as in Hamilton in the song Burn.

Stefanie Bautista 11:26
A Lin Manuel Miranda thing. There’s lots of those I hear.

Ariel Landrum 11:29
Yes. A little little call out a little shout out. And then also in Hamilton in the song Yorktown Hamilton says, “Seize the moment and stay in it.” And in All of You Dolores sings, “I’m seizing the moment. So would you wake up and notice me?”

Stefanie Bautista 11:46
Oh, I see what you did there.

Ariel Landrum 11:51
Another also interesting song thing which Stef you got it right you were right my fam Lin Manuel said the Family Madrigal was inspired by Belle from Beauty and the Beast. You..

Josué Cardona 12:01
You did it.

Ariel Landrum 12:02
You clocked that my friend.

Josué Cardona 12:04
It was all you.

Stefanie Bautista 12:04
Thank you. Thank you.

Ariel Landrum 12:06
This is your time.

Stefanie Bautista 12:07
This is my. You’re welcome.

Ariel Landrum 12:12
Another sort of songs. Shout out Luisa’s song Surface Pressure she says “Was Hercules ever like ‘Yo, I don’t want to fight Cerberus,'” as a shout out to obviously Hercules.

Josué Cardona 12:24
I don’t remember who said it. But I remember seeing a video or something it said “Like you know, ‘Was Hercules ever like yo, I don’t want to fight Cerberus,’ is the most Lin Manuel Miranda thing.” If you didn’t know he wrote the music to the movie at that point you’re like, “Oh, this must be Lin Manuel Miranda!”

Ariel Landrum 12:41
“I know who wrote this!”

Stefanie Bautista 12:43
“I know who wrote this! Who would even think of that?”

Josué Cardona 12:47
And that specific song Lin Manuel wrote as an apology and Love Letter for his older sister who he saw had to bear the burdens of the family.

Stefanie Bautista 12:57
Hmmm.

Josué Cardona 12:57
Yeah.

Speaking of apologies, when Bruno sings his apology to Pepa at the end, he says “Let it snow, let it go.” And the opening notes of Let It Go from Frozen or actually heard in the background.

Stefanie Bautista 13:09
Do you notice he also throws like white confetti? Making it act like as if it’s snowing? And he does even like Elsa’s pose. It’s really funny.

Josué Cardona 13:19
Okay, how many times have you watched the movies since the last episode?

Stefanie Bautista 13:23
You know, that’s, that’s a good question for everybody has it? Have you all watched it again? I actually haven’t. But I’ve seen so many clips online, that I feel like I’ve watched it in, like 30 second increments.

Josué Cardona 13:36
I just I just listen to the soundtrack again, about multiple times. I only listen to Dos Oruguitas before on repeat forever. But now I was like, “Oh, I could watch the whole movie or let me do let me just listen to the soundtrack.” And I mean, it’s kind of like watching the movie.

Stefanie Bautista 13:51
Yeah it is.

Josué Cardona 13:53
The beats are all there.

Ariel Landrum 13:54
I watched it two more times. Then of course everything on TikTok has me watched clips. I think that actually counts. But it was two more times. One to just do a refresher before we came in did our reprise and another time because I needed noise in the background for like doing stuff.

Stefanie Bautista 14:13
Funnily enough, it’s made its way into the karaoke cue. Me and my friends are on a trip with our families. And we play this card game called culture karaoke where it gives you like a category and then you have to like sing a song from a girl group from the 90s like, and then you would pick like I’m gonna pick Spice Girls or I’m gonna pick TLC or whatever. And then, unannounced unprompted, my husband puts on The Family Madrigal because they’re using YouTube, and I S you not we all just started singing it and we all like took parts and we I mean, we love the movie so much. I was just like, let’s do all the other songs. Now. Forget this game.

Josué Cardona 14:58
That’s gotta be the hardest song right? The Family Madrigal?

Stefanie Bautista 15:00
It is.

Josué Cardona 15:00
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 15:01
Yeah. But I think there’s a couple edits on YouTube where it like follows along with the lyrics and like who’s singing it? So it was like color coded, and they put a picture of the character. So we were definitely winded after that song. But we still sang We Don’t Talk About Bruno afterwards.

Ariel Landrum 15:21
Yeah, I think that’s interesting, because you are talking about like, everybody taking on a part. And obviously in We Don’t Talk About Bruno, everybody gets to sing a part. And the part where they are overlapping in the song at the dinner table, like setting, setting the table together, that actual composition style is actually called a madrigal,.

Stefanie Bautista 15:47
Ohh.

Ariel Landrum 15:48
Which is a poly phonetic module girl has a number of voices that vary between two and eight, usually features, maybe one prominent voice and the musical composition they interweave and overlap. And so it’s interesting that when we do actually have them all singing as a family, like that is how they’re doing it. They’re actually doing the madrigal con, vocal composition.

Stefanie Bautista 16:13
Is that similar to around? Is it like also known as around? Or is there a difference between the two?

Ariel Landrum 16:18
There’s a difference around is almost like on canon where the next person goes, the next person goes, they already had their individual song overlap with each other. And, and is if you put on if you turn it up really loud, or you put on the subtitles, the scene where they’re sort of dancing around in Mirabel’s head and she’s like looking at the… Not the fortune. She’s looking at the…

Stefanie Bautista 16:45
The prophecy?

Ariel Landrum 16:45
Yes, she’s got the fortune.

Stefanie Bautista 16:48
She’s looking at the fortune cookie! Haha!

Ariel Landrum 16:50
She’s like the prophecy. They’re all singing around her. And you can hear Isabela say, “I’m fine, I’m fine. I’m fine.” That’s what she sings. And it’s the same note that and key that she hear her introduction, the song where she says that “he told me that the life of my dreams is going to be mine.” And a lot of people have noted that she has to put on the persona of perfection. But in reality, there’s a good chance that her dreams weren’t dreams. They were nightmares. Because everybody had these like bad prophecies and she’s just presenting it as not a bad one?

Josué Cardona 17:30
I love that song The Bruno’s on because every time they everything, I still think that all his prophecies were positive. And like, in her case, again, her and Dolores case, like they were absolutely true. Like, oh, that song, “The life that you want is gonna be yours. It’s just like, but it’s a prophecy. So like, it’s gonna be in the future.” It did happen eventually. And the person that Dolores wanted, it’s like, oh, he only told you to the point where like, “Oh, yeah, your guy he’s, he’s gonna be with somebody else but like, but he’s your guy like eventually.”

Stefanie Bautista 18:00
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 18:00
It’s incomplete.

Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 18:03
I mean, even the smaller ones there’s things that were gonna happen eventually like that fish wasn’t gonna live forever. Sorry.

Josué Cardona 18:09
Exactly.

Ariel Landrum 18:10
The director even said like you don’t hear it in the movie but the name of the woman is Spanish in Spanish translate to Ms. Dead Fish. Like that’s her name. Like “I knew your fish was gonna die girl it was written in your name!”

Josué Cardona 18:28
In the creds, does it appear in the credits like, Ms. Dead Fish?

Stefanie Bautista 18:31
Like you have no other identity but your Ms. Dead Fish? Like Mr. Green….

Josué Cardona 18:35
Villager one Villager two Ms. Dead Fish…

Stefanie Bautista 18:38
Fish..

Josué Cardona 18:38
Villager three.

Stefanie Bautista 18:39
Mr. Green Thumb is down there too.

Ariel Landrum 18:44
It says, while her name was never mentioned the film director Jared Bush revealed that the name of the woman whose goldfish dies is Señora Pez Muerto?

Josué Cardona 18:56
Pez Muerto!

Stefanie Bautista 18:56
It is!

Ariel Landrum 18:56
Meaning Ms. Dead Fish.

Josué Cardona 18:56
Yup. Yup.

Stefanie Bautista 19:00
It’s like that’s her occupation kind of like blacksmith.

Josué Cardona 19:03
That’s my new favorite Encanto trivia.

Stefanie Bautista 19:06
I know. It’s pretty good.

Ariel Landrum 19:08
“Who you cosplaying as?” “Ms. Dead Fish!”

Stefanie Bautista 19:10
Just go around with a fish bowl.

Ariel Landrum 19:13
And just tilt your head, “Dead.”

Stefanie Bautista 19:16
That’s actually a good cosplay. If you had like two of your friends are the three like villagers whose prophecies were read and a guy with a gut bald guy, Ms. Dead Fish.

Josué Cardona 19:26
One guy just like taking his hair off, right? Taking a wig off. But it’s it’s gonna happen because Encanto is everywhere and there’s gonna be at least one.

Ariel Landrum 19:39
Hey, if they have that Star Wars run with the guy who’s holding the ice cream maker. Definitely gonna have Ms. Dead Fish.

Stefanie Bautista 19:49
or even your your dad’s cosplay of the guy in Jurassic Park that everybody really like?

Ariel Landrum 19:54
Oh, yeah!

Stefanie Bautista 19:56
Everyone loved that cosplay.

Ariel Landrum 19:58
Yeah, my dad was a Jimmy Buffett. If you watched Jurassic World he has a cameo where he has two margaritas and he’s running away from pterodactyls so I was a pterodactyl and my dad was Jimmy Buffett with the two margaritas and that was…

Stefanie Bautista 20:10
Everyone at Comic Con was loving it. They were like, “Oh it’s Jimmy Buffett!”

Ariel Landrum 20:16
“It’s Jimmy Buffett! It’s the margarita guy! They’re like “Do the pose! Do the pose!”

Stefanie Bautista 20:22
Yup. it’s gonna be like that, for sure.

Ariel Landrum 20:25
Okay, okay, um, other other Easter Eggs. Hidden Mickey’s there too, as there should be. Well, the first one is actually in, What Else Can I Do? Isabella makes a cactus and that cactus is a Mickey shape. And then the second one, you actually would have to freeze frame like each second of the song. But Mirabel in the song waiting on a miracle when she dances around her parents in the foreground, there’s magical glitter that’s in the shape of Mickey’s head.

Stefanie Bautista 20:58
Hmm.

Ariel Landrum 20:58
Going with a theme of butterflies because that was something that we talked about…

Yes.

The new door that gets built at the end, there’s a butterfly for each family member except one and that one is you find it on Mirabel’s chest. So right above like the whole, like an archway butterfly for each family member. The other thing is that there’s a book called 100 Years of Solitude, and it’s written by a Colombian novelist named Gabriel Garcia Marquez. And in the book throughout, there are yellow butterflies that appear. And it’s actually the story of a multi generational family whose patriarch finds a town.

Stefanie Bautista 21:33
Much like Abuela. Hehe.

Josué Cardona 21:36
So Disney’s getting sued.

Ariel Landrum 21:39
I’m just saying like this no way there wasn’t some inspiration.

Josué Cardona 21:44
What was the what’s the movie? The white lion? Isn’t Simba, the white lion or?

Ariel Landrum 21:50
Oh, Kim Kim?

Josué Cardona 21:51
Kimba!

Stefanie Bautista 21:52
Kimba. Yeah, the anime movie?

Josué Cardona 21:54
Yeah. That’s nothing like it…

Stefanie Bautista 21:57
No.

Josué Cardona 21:58
No.

Stefanie Bautista 21:58
They would have to wait a couple, what is it like it was made in the 70s and then it and then Lion King came out in the 90s. So you have to wait until that production houses defunct in order to steal their things and not feel the ramifications.

Ariel Landrum 22:16
Okay, okay. Umm in Bruno’s room and his room by the kitchen. You can see a boot with a plant in the background and that’s actually a shout out to Walle it’s the plant that like they find an Eva takes and stores.

Josué Cardona 22:29
I don’t know how I feel about Disney movies referencing Pixar movies. I don’t like that.

Stefanie Bautista 22:35
Yeah, I was gonna mention that. I’m like, hold up. Hold up. Hold up here.

Josué Cardona 22:39
Yeah. We need boundaries. Okay. Stay in your lane.

Stefanie Bautista 22:46
We have not moved that mountain yet. They have to build another Disney CGI mountain.

Ariel Landrum 22:53
But that isn’t the first time they’ve done that though. Right?

Josué Cardona 22:57
Actually was was was Marida in, in the video game movie?

Stefanie Bautista 23:05
Oh, Wreck It Ralph?

Josué Cardona 23:06
Wreck It Ralph Marida’s in it right?

Ariel Landrum 23:08
Yeah, that’s the one I’m referring to in record while she was in there. And they make a snide rude comment, which does not sound like my Disney princesses, but they were like, “Oh, she was made from the other production company.”

Josué Cardona 23:21
Right? Right. Right. So that’s acceptable. Right? It’s like that’s that. That’s how they should act.

Ariel Landrum 23:28
You shouldn’t be snarky to each other? Frenemies?

Stefanie Bautista 23:33
Make a face.

Josué Cardona 23:34
Yeah. Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 23:38
“They’re from the other magical town not this one.”

Ariel Landrum 23:44
“They make movies about feelings that feel okay?” Yeah, so yeah, so there’s some some Easter eggs.

Stefanie Bautista 23:54
I mean, would another Easter egg be that the Disney Pixar Disney CGI, that’s a dysfunctional family in itself, because it was like they had this partnership or family. And now they’re like all over the place animators here at I don’t know, but it could be a bigger metaphor for the messiness that is Disney CGI. Former Pixar.

Ariel Landrum 24:16
And this new generation is trying to break that generational curse?

Stefanie Bautista 24:21
I don’t know that’s going too far. But it’s a stretch.

Ariel Landrum 24:25
Stef. What have you been doing within condo in the classroom? Or have you seen teachers doing?

Stefanie Bautista 24:31
I’ve seen I mean, in, aside from playing the songs during you know, free time and like connecting with kids, because you got to kind of be hip to what the kids are listening to nowadays, right? Even though those kids are like five, just turned six. You got to know what’s cool. So I mean, everybody is you know, in and around Encanto whether it’s the clothes like what they’re, what they’re wearing, who they relate to who You know, you would find yourself like, “If you had to choose a power, what would you choose?” That’s such a popular writing prompt. Especially when you know superheroes came, you know, in the forefront of everything. It was always like, “You know, if you were a superhero, what would you be?” A couple educators, they actually twisted that a little bit to fit in Encanto when using that in the classroom. And some teachers have been using it to help kids discover their special talents. There’s this one teaching website where it says, because in the beginning of the movie Mirabele lavishes preys on her family and their unique gifts, such as healing through food, endless physical strength, even though she doesn’t have any, she figures, you know, she’s gonna contribute in big ways, like we saw. So what the teacher could do is you could ask the students to complete a writing activity where they come up with their own list of things that their family members excel, I’m not them, per se. But I, you could say, “You know, my mom’s really good at, you know, making this certain dish, or my mom’s really good at cleaning, you know, the house, or she’s really good at maybe even putting on her makeup. And you know, my dad’s really good at, you know, so and so my cousin’s good at this and this.” And then after that, “You could say, how would you transfer that into magical gifts?” So…

Ariel Landrum 26:18
Oh…

Stefanie Bautista 26:18
Let’s say for instance, if your mom is really good at doing her makeup, what if she just flick of the wrist did a whole piece of makeup? Or, you know, did it for like, even for a dog or, you know, get really silly and crazy with it? You could kind of take it to wherever. Or you could say, you know, “How would that gift? How could they? Would they be able to reflect on what their talent might be? Would you inherit that talent? Or would you take that talent further? Like, if you could change the way something looked? Would you do that? Is it a bad thing? Or a good thing? Who would it benefit? Who would it not benefit? And you know, would you do that for other people.” So there’s many different avenues that you could take a special gift.

Ariel Landrum 27:01
I like that.

Stefanie Bautista 27:02
It doesn’t have to be magical. It could just be you know, something really simple such as, you know, “I can kick a ball really, really far. Well, would you want to play a professional sport? Or would you use those talents to, you know, help other people? How would kicking a ball help someone? Oh, you know, maybe my strength could, you know, move things for people who can’t like the elderly, things like that.” So it’s kind of like taking services, to you know, your community, like a step further by making it magical. But you know, they can also scale it down by making it very accessible to students, which is really cool. But you can make it as magical or not magical as you want. The younger kids are really fun, because they can totally make it magical. And then they run wild with it.

Ariel Landrum 27:51
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 27:52
So I implore you to ask a child what they would do with you know, Luisa’s gift or Mirabel’s gift or even ask a kid what they think Mirabel’s gift is because you might get some really interesting answers.

Josué Cardona 28:07
Yeah, I like the community framing of it. Because in the movie that’s really like, the family is really serving that town. Right? Like, “Oh, if you had abilities, how would you help your town? or the school? Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 28:22
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 28:22
What a clever assignment.

Josué Cardona 28:25
I mean, they’re already talking about it. Yeah. Speaking their language.

Stefanie Bautista 28:31
Yeah. And I think a lot of kids have been, you know, identifying their family members within, you know, “This is my cousin who always listens into whatever I’m saying, and she always repeats it. I don’t want her to, but she does it anyway.” And, you know, “There’s there’s that cousin who I don’t see very often, but I know he’s around. Kind of like their Uncle Bruno. Everybody has that uncle.

Ariel Landrum 28:54
Yeah. Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 28:56
It always ends up being you know, like Bruno, so they they really see themselves even though they might not see themselves visually, they can find themselves in every character, which is really awesome.

Ariel Landrum 29:09
That’s interesting that you mentioned Dolores, and like a cousin that won’t keep secrets. And there is a fan theory that because Dolores can hear everything she knew the prophecy already and was just waiting to the right time to like stir the pot so that her man wouldn’t get stolen from her because she even says, “No one is worried about the magic but you and the rats in the walls.”

Josué Cardona 29:37
And in one of the songs she says “I can hear him now.” I think it’s it’s an Bruno right?

Ariel Landrum 29:46
“Mumbling and something..”

Josué Cardona 29:48
She’s like, “I can hear him now.”

Stefanie Bautista 29:49
There’s a lot of talk yeah, about what she hears and the things she shouldn’t be hearing.

Ariel Landrum 29:56
She’s got all the chisme.

Josué Cardona 29:58
So I mean, I mean she and she admits, “I I’ve always knew that Bruno was there. I could hear him. Like, I knew I know everything.” This way like, I feel like her, her power is just as sad as as Luisa and Isabela’s because like she has to stay quiet about this stuff, you know that she hears everything and she can’t say anything or do anything about it. Because for I mean, who knows what why she thinks that but that’s a lot of pressure too.

Ariel Landrum 30:27
You can also see in the background. I think her powers is the one that sucks the most. Because when well what everybody’s like clapping, she just uses her two index fingers because everything’s just so flipping loud.

Stefanie Bautista 30:41
Too loud.

Ariel Landrum 30:42
And it’s like we don’t we I don’t see her hat wearing like any earmuffs or earplugs at all. I feel so bad. Like she needs some Bose Bose noise canceling headphones. Number 45.

Stefanie Bautista 30:54
I want a Disney short of young Dolores. Like, where she did it no restraint and just said everything she heard.

Ariel Landrum 31:05
Yeah!

Stefanie Bautista 31:05
Cause there are kids who just repeat everything that they hear even though they shouldn’t…

Ariel Landrum 31:09
Oh that was me!

Stefanie Bautista 31:12
I would love to see just her just spilling the chisme. Spills everything.

Josué Cardona 31:17
It is funny because the dinner scene right, she she can’t hold it in. But then but like you learn “Oh, she said she’s had a lot of restraint.”

Ariel Landrum 31:26
Yeah. She just stirred the pot at the right moment.

Josué Cardona 31:30
Yeah yeah. I mean, this was pretty juicy.

Ariel Landrum 31:33
My girl.

Josué Cardona 31:34
I get it. Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 31:37
But yeah, I agree. I think her powers you know, very burdensome, then that town is not that large? Now think if it was larger, if it continues to expand, is she is she using things to help her, you know, control block it out? Or? I don’t know.

Josué Cardona 31:55
I just I’ve never thought about how bad it could be. But what if she can actually hear outside of the town? And she can’t go. But she knows that. Like, all these things are happening. And there’s this whole world out there.

Stefanie Bautista 32:10
There’s life beyond the walls. There’s life beyond the walls. Oh, man, we need another episode for that one.

Josué Cardona 32:20
I don’t want to think about that. About Dolores’ plight now. The tragedy of the Dolores.

Ariel Landrum 32:28
We don’t really have a timeframe do we?

Josué Cardona 32:30
No not really? And like when things happen at the beginning? The story takes like 50 years after that.

Ariel Landrum 32:36
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 32:37
And….

Stefanie Bautista 32:40
We know that they make espresso. So we know that those processes are there.

Josué Cardona 32:46
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 32:47
But other than that, I mean, there’s no sign of electricity aside. I mean, they’re using carts.

Josué Cardona 32:55
But also like, we have no idea like, because we have no frame of reference for the….

Stefanie Bautista 32:59
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 32:59
initial scene…

Ariel Landrum 33:00
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 33:01
Like, technology could have advanced like, it could have been the 1900s. And now it’s 1950. And they’re still, you know, like…

Stefanie Bautista 33:07
In yeah.

Josué Cardona 33:07
There was a big change. You know, like people driving cars around that mountain. They have no idea what’s going on. They just saw about it split. And it’s like, “Wait, what?”

Stefanie Bautista 33:16
Yeah, what an homage to rural living, especially in countries like that. Because, yes, there could be cars and you know, electric cars going around. But if you live in the boonies, you would not know that. You would not know that at all. And there are places that exist today that are like that. I mean, speaking of Encanto has been so popular. So we know, the Disney route on this. We got to Frozen Two Yes, we are gonna be getting a Moana Two sometime. Do you think they’re going to push for an Enancto Two?

Josué Cardona 33:50
I mean, only because I’m sure it’s made them a lot of money.

Ariel Landrum 33:54
Yeah. Yeah, it wasn’t a flop. So…

Stefanie Bautista 33:57
Yeah…

Ariel Landrum 33:57
They have to monetize it as much as they can.

Stefanie Bautista 34:00
Yeah. I did read some people say because when she rebuilt the house at the end of the movie, you see in its destruction, the mountain splits, right? So it opens up this valley. That never gets repaired. So it’s now open. People can visit the town now. Or the townspeople can go out and venture. So I wonder if this maybe sequel would be them going out or dealing with outsiders coming in? Hmm.

Josué Cardona 34:30
Again like Frozen surprised me when when they had a sequel. Like I couldn’t imagine what the sequel would be. And, and yeah, this I think they have the opportunity to do some cool stuff. That is kind of, there’ll be like hard to expect. Because I mean, we talked about it’s been 50 years. So the world like the outside world is very different. And we don’t know what kind of world they live in. That’s another part to like when we when we see Arendelle and then we kind of expand a little more in the second one, it’s like, “Oh, this world is full of fantasy, and magic.” And like, there’s all these people who’ve been trapped for 50 years, right? I mean, I don’t remember 50 years in Frozen Two right, but like, all these people who were out there, and there’s like all this other types of magic. So it’s possible that in the world of Encanto, they’re not necessarily, maybe they’re not as special. Right? Maybe there’s other families, there’s other miracles, right? There’s other families with powers and abilities nearby, you know, and like, there’s all these things you can explore. Now that they’ve grown, you know, do you introduce some kind of? I don’t know, like, what’s, what’s the we have generational trauma here? What do we do? What what could be next? What’s the challenge? Is it just now adapting? Actually, I think, okay, here’s my theory. Here’s my theory. Abeula dies.

Stefanie Bautista 36:01
Oh, I was just gonna say that.

Josué Cardona 36:03
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 36:04
I was just gonna say that.

Josué Cardona 36:05
That’s how it is, right?

Ariel Landrum 36:06
There’s too many Disney mom’s in this movie?

Josué Cardona 36:08
Yeah. Yeah. You deal with the loss of Abuela, and how are you? Like, because she had so much control. And now that she’s let go, how do you? What role does everyone else play? Who who becomes the new matriarch? Who becomes? What are our roles now? How does that power shift? There it is. Lin Manuel call me.

Stefanie Bautista 36:30
I know tight? Call Josué. Call him up.

Josué Cardona 36:33
There’s also the possibility that at the end, when because they don’t they don’t say this. They don’t show either way. But when Mirabel touches the door, the whole town kind of glows. It’s not just Casita, like everything, like, what if everybody else got powers to? You know, like?

Ariel Landrum 36:50
Like that little boy who drank all that coffee?

Josué Cardona 36:53
Yeah, yeah, like he’s a speedster, now.

Stefanie Bautista 36:55
He’s had a power. His little body just absorbing all the caffine.

Josué Cardona 37:01
Yeah, but I think I think that makes sense. I mean, right. And you can see all the same roles, like all the family dynamics, you can start to see them play out in that generational way. Right, but like they didn’t get to grow, they were stifled in the cocoon, right. And now that the cocoon has has broken, how do those, we can show how all of those roles play out?

Stefanie Bautista 37:24
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 37:25
Later on. As as you get older, just like in real life, you had these roles when you were younger, and then they can now then it can explain some of the issues you have as an adult.

Ariel Landrum 37:36
What a beautiful segue Josué to what I wanted to talk about, which was a dysfunctional family roles. So as some of you know, I’m a therapist, I’m specifically what’s called a marriage and family therapist, I was trained to think systemically. So when I treat an individual, I don’t just see them, I see, you know, the, how they have been affected by those around them, and specifically the way their family affects them. And there’s this sort of theory that when a, when there’s family dysfunction, we take on roles in the family. When we see family members struggle to self regulate themselves, we take on these roles and attempt to like create homeostasis, or rebalance the family so that we can get back to, you know, quote, unquote, being functional. And though I don’t really ascribe to dysfunctional and functional, I kind of think of it as these roles are very adaptive, they’re survivor roles. And once you’ve sort of left the family, you’ve created individuation, they’re no longer useful because you’re not in survival mode anymore. In the same way. I always use like with my clients, the example of if you’re swimming in water, you’re going to propel yourself forward with your arms, but you’re on dry land. Now. These are dysfunctional family roles as they’re called in the field. But you can also just think of them as like Survivor roles or roles that we take on to survive. And so I’m going to, I’m going to read them and I want you all to say who you think in the family, they are. The Caretaker/Peacemaker/Mediator, so these are any of the terms you can use. And this is the individual in the family who is constantly alert to addressing any family issue and conflict. They often go ahead of their own personal needs and take on the duties and responsibilities of others in the family. They are seen as the one keeping the family in balance.

So So I think I think there’s a couple that fit this one.

Yeah. Yeah.

Josué Cardona 39:35
Camilo is one because he he literally takes on the duties of other people in the family because he transforms into them and then and then steps in when other people can’t And I think Julieta.

Ariel Landrum 39:49
Okay, okay.

Josué Cardona 39:50
And Mirabel, and yeah, I think those.

Stefanie Bautista 39:55
I definitely thought Julieta first just because she is the most overly motherly type. And she’s preparing food right? So it’s not usually if you’re the person cooking you eat last. And that’s what I always akin that too. So because she’s busy making food for everyone else, she probably doesn’t have time for her own needs. Especially when she has Mirabel a girl who was you know, still lost in finding herself. She’s kind of like, “It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m just gonna give you a big kiss on your face. Everything’s better.”

Ariel Landrum 40:32
Yeah, I definitely agree with you all. I also thought of Luisa in the sense that she does take on a lot of responsibilities and duties. And we literally see her like on a balancing tightrope…

Josué Cardona 40:42
And she’s constantly addressing issues. She’s like fixing things. She’s a fixer. Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 40:46
Yup.

Ariel Landrum 40:47
I think the part that makes me sort of think more Julieta is the fact that that this individual has to be alert. They’re always essentially on guard. And it seems like even in like the partner she chose, who always gets like stung by bees. She’s just like, ready?

Stefanie Bautista 41:07
Very mother, like you gotta have everything in your purse.

Ariel Landrum 41:10
This one is The Golden Child/Hero/Saint/or Super Kid. This individual’s a family who could do no wrong and is often described as perfect. They have intense pressure to continue to achieve and only no praise through achievement. They appear to be well balanced and unfazed by the family dysfunction. Appear being the strong word.

Josué Cardona 41:29
I mean, in Family Madrigal, Mirabel, actually calls Julieta, I mean, Isabel, and Luisa perfect. Both of them in their own ways. So they both fit that.

Ariel Landrum 41:41
Miss Perfecta Isabela.

Josué Cardona 41:43
Isabela obviously, right? She’s definitely The Golden Child. She’s also called the golden child in that first song, literally…

Stefanie Bautista 41:49
And they sing her name like she’s from the angels.

Josué Cardona 41:53
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But but she also describes Luisa as perfect and that’s the thing about like her eye twitching right it’s like it’s she’s breaking that that image of perfection yeah.

Ariel Landrum 42:09
Yeah, yeah, I think that that like Super Kid in the title definitely makes me think Luisa.

Josué Cardona 42:13
You can be more than one of these by the way, you can have more than one dysfunctional family role.

Ariel Landrum 42:18
Oh, yeah. You like I said, this is a role you you is either ascribe to you or you take yourself for someone both so you may shift it up depending on what balance needs to be had in the family. So the next one is The Scapegoat/Troublemaker/ or Black Sheep. This individual in the family who speaks the truth about the family’s dysfunction. Attention is only given to them when they cause a problem or a scene and they are usually assigned this role at a young age. They identify with feeling rejected, unloved and isolated. And they are often placed in situations where they’re pinned up against The Golden Child or compared to.

Camilo and Bruno.

I definitely thought Bruno and I definitely thought Mirabel and that the being pinned up against The Golden Child. But what about Camilo?

Josué Cardona 43:05
Speaks the truth about family’s dysfunction, and that is just generally, when he’s doing when he’s playing his role correctly. He’s good, but the moment he starts messing around and imitating people that’s like, “Oh like just stop it.”

Stefanie Bautista 43:20
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 43:21
“Stop messing around!”

Stefanie Bautista 43:21
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 43:21
You know?

Ariel Landrum 43:22
Okay. Okay. Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 43:24
And a lot of that has to do with you know, because he could be everybody else, you, you might get the sense that he could also get lost in who he actually is because he’s busy shape shifting. And I feel like a lot of kids who identify as the class clown usually are hiding something or they’re using humor, to, you know, cover up something that they might not want to talk about or might not want to address themselves within themselves. So they put more attention on other people so that they can that’s like their comic relief.

Ariel Landrum 43:52
So interesting that you say that because the next one is The Clown or The Mascot. This individual lightens the mood in the home, especially when tensions rise or could boil over. They appear to always be ready defuse tension with humor, and when this is successful, it perpetuates their desire to avoid conflict and conflict resolution by using amusing behavior.

Josué Cardona 44:14
Camilo.

Stefanie Bautista 44:15
Camilo.

Ariel Landrum 44:16
Finally, we have The Lost Child. This individual will do their best to blend into the background they often identify with feelings of being ignored, neglected, and fear drawing attention to themselves. They yearn for love and approval but are often withdrawn and isolated.

Josué Cardona 44:32
Bruno, Dolores, and Mirabel.

Ariel Landrum 44:35
Yes, I definitely think Bruno because he literally blends with the background, but I also think Dolores because she only speaks when she’s told to, like identify news. She’s like…

Stefanie Bautista 44:46
Yeah…

Ariel Landrum 44:47
Like a weather girl.

Josué Cardona 44:48
Also, again, her ability like it makes it so like, in many ways she has to she has to be quiet. Like she can’t even say what she knows because she knows too much.

Ariel Landrum 44:58
Yeah, I think it’s good to have some of these roles in mind, in, in therapy or when we’re doing our own work, because we can see them come out when we are trying to relate with others.We’ll and we feel tension or discomfort rise, we will take on these different roles that may not actually fit or match the needs that have to be met.

Stefanie Bautista 45:21
I noticed that we didn’t mention the husbands.

Ariel Landrum 45:23
I think Felix is the The Clown or The Mascot.

Stefanie Bautista 45:27
Yeah, I was thinking that too.

Josué Cardona 45:29
I was thinking he’s a Mediator/Peacemaker.

Stefanie Bautista 45:31
Oh, yeah that also. For sure.

Ariel Landrum 45:36
So he’s told to calm Pepa down.

Stefanie Bautista 45:38
Yeah. Augustine could be kind of the scape.. maybe not the scape… Maybe The Clown because he’s always getting stung by bees?

Josué Cardona 45:48
I don’t know… I couldn’t. I couldn’t think of one for him. I don’t think he has. I don’t think he he’s the only one that’s not dysfunctional.

Ariel Landrum 45:59
And he’s the only one.

Stefanie Bautista 46:01
Yeah. I mean, he could also be seen as The Peacemaker, or The Mediator because he loves his kids so much. And he loves his wife so much that, you know, he’s, he’s just the go to guy.

Josué Cardona 46:12
Ope like when he hides. Yeah, like when he hides the prophesy stone and stuff. It’s like no, no, yes, I think they both. I mean, yeah, they’re both playing partially that role, more more like The Peacemaker/Mediator kind of thing. Because there’s a lot of drama in that family.

Ariel Landrum 46:36
So in the book, how to do the work by Dr. Nicole LaPera, she has the Seven Inner Child Archetypes, I definitely shout out this book. And I would suggest a lot of clients get it, especially if they’re thinking of going into therapy. This is a good stepping stone if you are still not comfortable with the idea of being in the room with an individual, maybe seeing if you align with these archetypes. And so you want to think of these as internal roles. We model assign, assume and play out unconsciously again to survive. And often our responses from unmet emotional needs or broken connections. And so what I’m going to note on these roles is how, how these internal roles have us believe what love is or how we get love. So The Caretaker, this is the part of us that gains a sense of identity and self worth through neglecting our own needs. Will believe that the only way that we can resolve love, or we can receive love is by caring for others and ignoring ourselves.

Josué Cardona 47:40
That’s me. Uh-huh. Keep going.

Stefanie Bautista 47:43
Yeah. I was like “I see myself in this picture.”

Josué Cardona 47:44
Yup yup yup. Keep going.

Stefanie Bautista 47:46
Go on.

Ariel Landrum 47:47
“Shots fired. I feel called out.”

Josué Cardona 47:49
“How dare you!”

Stefanie Bautista 47:51
“How. Dare. You.”

Ariel Landrum 47:52
So in goes to the family Madrigal and not the Geek Therapy Network Family.

Josué Cardona 47:57
Oh sorry.

Stefanie Bautista 47:58
Oh, are we identifying with character? Oh, sorry. It got a little real there so.

Josué Cardona 48:01
Stef we misunderstood the assignment.

Stefanie Bautista 48:01
Yeah. Opps.

Ariel Landrum 48:07
Who do you think of the family’s a Caretaker? I definitely thought Luisa in the being self sacrificial. Or believing that the only way that she can serve the family is if she never serves herself.

Josué Cardona 48:17
Yeah. 100%.

Stefanie Bautista 48:18
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 48:19
It’s interesting, the very different way this caretaker is presented than it is like the family role.

Josué Cardona 48:25
Hmhmm.

Stefanie Bautista 48:25
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 48:26
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 48:26
I mean, Mirabel because she speaks to Casita, she, I feel like she’s the only one who speaks the Casita and, like, interacts with Casita that way. It’s like she’s taking care of the house. And we see that manifest in a more larger way. But you know, she’s the one, putting stuff back, making sure everyone’s good and making sure all the tiles are in the right place.

Josué Cardona 48:45
She’s literally in the nursery, right, she can make that she has to do a deal with a lot of stuff for for, for the sake of the others.

Ariel Landrum 48:55
She don’t get no room. Okay, the next one is the Overachiever, the part of us that feel seen, heard and valued through success and achievement. This is the part that uses external validation as a way to cope with love, self worth and value. And we see love as only received through achievement.

Josué Cardona 49:17
I mean, it sounds like it’s Isabela, but I feel like you saw a lot doesn’t work hard. Like, I don’t think she’s just valued.

Stefanie Bautista 49:25
Because she is…

Josué Cardona 49:27
Because she’s the most beautiful one because she makes beautiful things. But she does that effortlessly.

Stefanie Bautista 49:33
Yeah, I think all of Julieta’s kids, those that the three of them Mirabel, Luisa and Isabela. They’re all Overachievers in some way or another, because one is trying to overcompensate for what she doesn’t have. One just trying to be, you know, the poster child and the other one who’s just trying to be strong for everyone. So, in comparison to the other two cousins, three cousins they’re way more at the forefront of, I need to be this person.

Ariel Landrum 50:04
Okay? Okay. Because if you think of like Dolores and Camilo, they could literally hide in the background and their achievement is not to be as seen as these other three their cousins.

Josué Cardona 50:14
And nobody’s praising what they’re doing.

Stefanie Bautista 50:16
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 50:17
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 50:17
And I feel Yeah, probably Luisa is the most. Right. Like she she, what is it? Dammit, she says it. I forgot what she says in the song buti t’s like, “My worth is like, I have to have to be useful. Like I have to have to do things. And if I can’t do that, then like, what good am I?”

Ariel Landrum 50:36
The next one is the opposite of The Overachiever it is The Underachiever and this is the part that stays small, unseen, and beneath our true potential due to fear of criticism, shame, or failure. This is a part that we take when we don’t want to play the emotional game. And we believe that invisibility is the only way to get love.

Stefanie Bautista 51:00
This one might be a long shot, but I feel like because Pepa is always just trying to stop herself from crying and having big emotions. She has to feel smaller, she has to act small. Because if she lashes out or something bad happens, everyone’s gonna have consequences for it.

Ariel Landrum 51:22
Yeah. And that is beneath her true potential. Like she literally controls the weather.

Josué Cardona 51:26
She made a hurricane on her wedding day, right? She said.

Stefanie Bautista 51:29
She did.

Josué Cardona 51:29
Yeah. And I forgot all about Pepa. I’m glad you brought her up because we did not mention her in the last exercise.

Stefanie Bautista 51:36
We did not. And she’s the one with the power that can truly destroy or make everyone’s day great.

Josué Cardona 51:45
She’s always subduing right? Her ability. Yeah. I think Dolores in a way also, does that. Like she can’t talk about the fact that, you know, she knows. I think Bruno too.

Ariel Landrum 51:59
Yeah…

Josué Cardona 52:00
In a way, but a much more literal way here, right? Because, because he did speak up and was criticized. And then he literally, you know, got himself invisible. Not necessarily as the only way to get love, but like the only way to avoid….

Ariel Landrum 52:20
Rejection.

Josué Cardona 52:21
Yeah, rejection yeah.

Ariel Landrum 52:23
The Rescuer or The Protector. This is the part of us that attempts to rescue those around us in an attempt to hear from our own vulnerability and attempt to get away from our own vulnerability. So we can view others as helpless, incapable and dependent. And we derive love from them and a feeling of self worth by putting ourselves in a position of power. And this part of us believes that love is received when focusing on others wants and needs and helping them to solve those problems. Even I will highlight if if they don’t think it’s a problem. So we feel the compulsion to resolve it for them. Even though they might not have said that this was the thing that bothers me.

Josué Cardona 53:10
It’s absolutely Abuela.

Stefanie Bautista 53:13
Yep.

Josué Cardona 53:13
Ferociously.

Stefanie Bautista 53:15
Ferociously.

Josué Cardona 53:16
Attempts to rescue those around them. Yup.

Stefanie Bautista 53:18
In that grandmotherly way. “I know you guys didn’t ask for my opinion. But here it is.”

Ariel Landrum 53:25
“Here’s my unsolicited advice. You’re welcome.”

Stefanie Bautista 53:30
“About your life choices.”

Ariel Landrum 53:32
We’re down to the final three. The Life of The Party. This is the part that is always happy, cheerful or comedic, and that always wants to be perceived this way. This is the part that believes that we can make others around us happy. That’s how we’ll receive love.

Josué Cardona 53:48
Camilo.

Stefanie Bautista 53:49
Felix.

Ariel Landrum 53:51
The interesting thing about this one is some people online said that this was Pepa. And the example that they said is sometimes The Life of The Party isn’t always doing good, but because their emotions affect everybody else, they have to be good.

Stefanie Bautista 54:06
Which is why she looks so tormented. Poor girl.

Josué Cardona 54:11
Yeah, I guess in that case, right. If she, by some doing her own powers, she’s, she’s making sure that other people around her are, are better off.

Ariel Landrum 54:24
“And if they’re happy then they love me.”

Stefanie Bautista 54:25
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 54:26
Yeah. Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 54:27
I can see that. Because if she always just says, “I need to be sunny, so it can always be sunny.”

Josué Cardona 54:33
Yeah, the pressure of I mean, she can literally control the weather. Right? So she can she can if it’s raining, she can she can fix that. That’s uh, yeah…

Ariel Landrum 54:42
We have The Yes Person. This one drops everything and neglects all their needs in the service of others. This was most likely modeled to them when they were a child modeled self sacrifice, and they believe love is given when one is good to others. This is slightly different than The Caretaker ’cause it isn’t that they’re neglecting their own needs. It’s that they see someone else need something, so they’re going to stop what they’re doing to assist, but they don’t go out of their way to ignore their needs. And some people sort of said, online that they thought The Yes Person was Camilo. Because he literally turns into the to you like, “You go girl.”

Stefanie Bautista 55:25
Yeah!

Josué Cardona 55:25
in the opening scene, he’s just like, he walks by the mom taking care of the baby. And he immediately turns into the mom takes the baby and lets her take a nap. Right? Just immediately, “There’s someone needs something. I got you.”

Ariel Landrum 55:40
And I think that in modeled in childhood, I think that that he saw that from his father Felix in taking care of Pepa.

Josué Cardona 55:47
Yeah. Could be. Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 55:49
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 55:49
Final one is The Hero Worshiper, there’s the part of us that wants to follow a person or a guru. We believe the only way we will receive love is if we reject ourselves and view others as a model to learn how to live.

Stefanie Bautista 56:03
Mirabel? ‘Cause she literally worships and loves everyone. And because she doesn’t have a power herself, she just says, “I’m part of this magical family look at what they all can do.”

Josué Cardona 56:17
We talked about like, in the in the waiting for a miracle. She’s, she’s thinking of how, you know, she could use their abilities instead of what she can do.

Stefanie Bautista 56:27
Hmhmm.

Yeah.

Josué Cardona 56:29
No… The needs to follow a person like that part. Like, I feel, I don’t know that she feels like she needs to. That part feels a little.

Stefanie Bautista 56:38
Maybe it’s manifested in her need to please Abuela in one way or the another. Not really following her but needing to please her because she doesn’t know how to do that without a power.

Josué Cardona 56:52
Yeah, yeah.

Ariel Landrum 56:53
Yeah, yeah, I definitely the way that The Hero Worshiper is essentially described in like parts work of a part of yourself, it’s like you don’t see yourself reflected around you. So you must assume that that part of you is essentially bad. And you need to hone a skill of something else that is reflected of others like, like, again, worshipping, in the sense of, “They have what I’ll never have, or I don’t have, and I need to reject different parts of myself, or how I live my life in order to be loved.” In order to be able to live it up, quote, unquote, appropriately, societally, appropriately, I don’t know.

Josué Cardona 57:33
Yeah, yeah. No.

Stefanie Bautista 57:36
I like that. I like a deep dive guys. Deep dive.

Ariel Landrum 57:41
Yeah. Okay, thank you for indulging in my family systems. Hopefully, that helps some fellow clinicians out there and talking about these characters and how they might represent family roles or parts of ourselves. I think that having something to go off of makes that conversation a little bit safer, and less scary. Because you just don’t want to be like, you know, calling out your client, right there like, “Yo, here’s your dysfunctional role.”

Josué Cardona 58:11
So whenever there’s a movie or a story with families like this, I mean, this is also why I was like, like, Inside Out, right? Oh, it was really helpful. It’s like, “Okay, you have all these examples, like, do you possibly relate to any of them? Maybe? Like, which one? Which one made you feel a certain way?” Or like, where if you have a lot of family members, you’re like, “Oh, like, help me understand how things are at home? Like who acts like, like, like, who?” You know, it’s great, because we have like that, that wide range? And it does cover these two theories really well. Like there’s a lot of videos online about that. People addressing that yeah.

Ariel Landrum 58:51
Yeah. Or to get it in a Geek Therapy mindset. “Who did you resonate with? And ah did you feel an intense repulsion towards any of the behaviors, or the individuals?”

Josué Cardona 59:02
Absolutely.

Ariel Landrum 59:02
Repulsion.

Josué Cardona 59:07
I mean, and the way that that’s, like, effective I find is you’re like, “Oh, do you feel? Do you feel like you’re like, like Camilo? Like, “No, absolutely not!” “Why?’ And then and then that’s when you go into it. And you’re like, “No, because of Ah-buh-buh-buh.” And “Ah there’s the insight.”

Ariel Landrum 59:24
“If I had the power to turn in anything, I ain’t gonna turn in other people. I serve myself.”

Stefanie Bautista 59:29
There’s so many people like talking about that, especially on like the Encanto/Reddit, like, “If I were Luisa, I would have duh duh duh all this stuff.” A lot of opinions on that one. But there was a funny one that I just saw right now. And because we were talking about Encanto 2. And what do you want to mostly if there’s an incanto sequels, somebody said, “A. backstory of the triplets getting their gifts. B. brother sister movie of Camilo doing pranks and Dolores dishing out the gossip. C. Abuela and a silver fox love interest.”

Josué Cardona 1:00:05
Oh my.

Stefanie Bautista 1:00:05
Oh.

“D. A brother-in-law buddy comedy of Felix and Augustine hanging out at the tavern. E. Bruno getting on the dating scene maybe with the woman with the dead fish? What if they got together? Or just two hours of Luisa dancing because she’s living her best life.”

Ariel Landrum 1:00:24
Cosign. Add to Cart.

Stefanie Bautista 1:00:29
I like all of those. Let’s just do a Disney+ thing.

Josué Cardona 1:00:33
We just need a series now.

Ariel Landrum 1:00:35
Some shorts.

Josué Cardona 1:00:36
Shorts. Yeah, just a series of shorts.

Stefanie Bautista 1:00:39
Oh, and if you enjoyed the art of Encanto you can get the art book for free digitally, they’ve made it available to the public. All you have to do is search up ‘Art of Encanto Disney’ and they made it available because it is award season and you may want to promote the art of the movie. And not just our intense emotions and feelings about it. It is visually beautiful.

Ariel Landrum 1:01:01
Well, thank you Josué joining us again for this reprise.

Josué Cardona 1:01:05
Yeah, absolutely.

Stefanie Bautista 1:01:07
Yeah. I love that we were able to unpack even further. This never ending suitcase.

Josué Cardona 1:01:13
I don’t know how much deeper I can go into this movie. I’m afraid of what I’ll find.

Ariel Landrum 1:01:17
This is like Mary Poppins’ bag. There ain’t no bottom.

Josué Cardona 1:01:20
No. Oh no.

Ariel Landrum 1:01:23
Well again, if you want to hear even more Encanto and you want to talk to us about it, please tweet at us or DM us @HappiestPodGT for both Instagram and Twitter. Alright Good night, everybody.

Stefanie Bautista 1:01:38
Good night.

Josué Cardona 1:01:39
Bye!

Media/Characters Mentioned
  • Encanto
  • Abuela Alma Madrigal
  • Mirabel Madrigal
  • Luisa Madrigal
  • Isabela Madrigal
  • Bruno Madrigal
  • Pepa Madrigal
  • Julieta Madrigal
  • Antonio Madrigal
  • Camilo Madrigal
  • Agutin Madrigal
  • Dolores Madrigal
  • Felix Madrigal
  • Frozen
  • Beauty and the Beast
  • Wreck In Ralph
  • Disney
  • Pixar
  • Karoke
Topics/Themes Mentioned
  • Family
  • Family roles
  • Family systems
  • Dysfunctional family roles
  • Coping skills
  • Survival traits
  • The caretaker
  • The peacemaker
  • The mediator
  • The golden child
  • The hero
  • The saint
  • The superkid
  • The scapegoat
  • The troublemaker
  • The black sheep
  • The clown
  • The mascot
  • The lost child
  • the overachiever
  • The underachiever
  • The rescuer
  • The protector
  • The life of the party
  • The yes-person
  • The hero-worshipper

Questions? Comments? Discuss this episode on the GT Forum.

—

 Website: happy.geektherapy.com
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 | Stef on Twitter: @stefa_kneee | Ariel on Instagram: @airyell3000 |
 | Josué on Twitter: @JosueACardona

Geek Therapy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit with the mission of advocating for the effective and meaningful use of popular media in therapeutic, educational, and community practice.
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Celebrating Lunar New Year

January 28, 2022 · Discuss on the GT Forum

https://media.blubrry.com/happypod/media.transistor.fm/b3de1f0b/00c6e97d.mp3

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#27: Lunar New Year is a holiday that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. The year 2022 is the year of the Tiger, and tiger energy is exactly what Ariel and Stef want to take into the New Year. In this episode, they share the various cultures that celebrate Lunar New Year (and how Disney highlights them at their parks), the importance of identity in the AAPI community, and their podcast resolutions for the new year.

Read the blog post for this episode for additional references and resources.

Resources for this episode:

  1. Ultimate Rice Battle Ft Uncle Roger – SortedFood (reference can be found at the 11:43 time mark of this episode)

Become a member of Geek Therapy on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/geektherapy

Transcription

Stefanie Bautista 0:11
Hello, everyone, welcome to the Happiest Pod on Earth. I’m Stef.

Ariel Landrum 0:15
And I’m Ariel. And we’re Disney fans. But really, we’re so much more.

Stefanie Bautista 0:18
I’m an educator who uses passions and fandoms to help my students grow and learn about themselves and the world around them.

Ariel Landrum 0:24
I’m a licensed therapist who uses clients passions and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma and mental and wellness. And Happiness Pod, well, it’s a place where we dissect Disney mediums with what a critical lens.

Stefanie Bautista 0:35
Why do we do that? Because just like we are more than just fans, we expect more from the mediums we consume.

Ariel Landrum 0:41
So Stef, what Disney experience are we dissecting today?

Stefanie Bautista 0:45
Well, we are coming up on the end of January, which means February is just around the corner. And for many of us, especially in the AAPI community, we are celebrating Lunar New Year, which is like New Year part two.

Ariel Landrum 1:00
Okay, okay. Yes. And so for our audience members who may not be fully aware, Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year is a festival that celebrates the beginning of the new year on the traditional lunar solar Chinese calendar. And of course, contrary to popular belief, it is not just a festival that’s celebrated in China Lunar New Year’s actually, festival that is celebrated in a lot of East and South East Asian countries. This year, starting February 1 is when the when the new year is, is the year of the tiger.

Stefanie Bautista 1:35
Yep. The new Lunar New Year is something that many AAPI community members we celebrate, especially if you are from China, or Vietnam or Korea, or have, you know, descent in any of those countries. And Disney decides to celebrate that at the parks, which is really awesome. In the past couple of years at the Disney California Adventure Park, they turn the walkway from the main park all the way up to Pixar pier into a beautiful Lunar New Year festival where they have food, much like the night markets and markets in Asia. And also they bring out Mulan and many of the characters that identify as Asian American or Pacific Islander. And they decided to highlight them in such an awesome way.

Ariel Landrum 2:19
Yes. And for my understanding, you did go to the festival?

Stefanie Bautista 2:24
I did. This is my second year going. I just went and they really they really upped the amplification on AAPI representation. It was awesome.

Ariel Landrum 2:36
So because you went, this is your second time you’re able to compare the first the last but when you went the first time was that also the first time they did it?

Stefanie Bautista 2:45
From my understanding, yes, I may be wrong. This is the first me and my friend who I would go to the parks with, whenever there was a food festival. That was the first time we ever went it was the first time I knew about it. They might have done it maybe in Epcot or other Disney parks, especially in Shanghai or Hong Kong. But I know that they introduced the Lunar New Year festival as a food festival of sorts because the Food and Wine Festival had been so popular and so successful.

Ariel Landrum 3:17
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 3:17
And then you got the holiday, the festival holidays where they have that same market type of fast eats. And yeah, I think this time because they knew that they could incorporate so many Disney characters, and the addition of such characters as Raya as Moana. I mean, even Lilo and Stitch in some ways, and also pulling from a lot of the Shanghai parks and the Hong Kong parks where Mickey and Minnie would have a special costume that they would wear. They would have performers, just many elements of Disney that they already had. I feel like being transferred that over to the New York Lunar New Year festival.

Ariel Landrum 3:56
Okay. Okay. So in looking at last year, and this year, what were some of the big changes, you did mention more representation in general, but even in the fact that it started off as more of just a food festival as it now feel like more like really a Lunar New Year festival?

Stefanie Bautista 4:17
Absolutely, I think especially before so the last time they had this is obviously pre COVID. So there were a lot less restrictions that we had to abide by. But because it was more of a food base focused festival, you had the kiosks and stalls along the walkway in front of the Little Mermaid ride and all the way up to the back where they have the restaurant and kind of where they have a plaza where they have a stage and some performances. I remember that they had they had a little area where you could write on a piece of paper and you can make your Lunar New Year wish for you and your family and you can hang it up. Much like how they do in Asia and then next to it, you could take pictures with Minnie and Mickey and their lunar new year. And then they also had many performances of Chinese dancers, ribbon dancers, dancers that had tambourines of some acrobatics here and there. But that was basically it. This time around, they have Mulan’s Lunar New Year procession. Oh, they don’t call it a parade because they don’t want people gathering like that. Um, parades are still kind of not okay at the park right now. But they have a really cute little procession. It’s the Year of the Tiger.

Ariel Landrum 5:31
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 5:31
So they had Tigger leading the procession.

Ariel Landrum 5:34
Oh my god!

Stefanie Bautista 5:36
And he was in such cute as like a cute outfit. Everywhere is decked out in red like, right when you get like, through the main part of California Adventure. There’s like a huge artist Lunar New Year. But the procession happens. I think once every hour, from nine to nine. I think. I could be wrong. But I know, I think as the sun goes down it, they do their last show, but they have dragon dancers. They have Mulan and Mushu on a float with Chinese drummers. And…

Ariel Landrum 6:09
Okay wait, is Mushu a puppet or a character?

Stefanie Bautista 6:13
Full-bodied character. He is a person just dancing along next to Milan, they have two sets of dancers in the back and then they have I think that’s it actually. So it literally is a very small, small small parade because they do not want people gathering waiting, just hanging out like masks off eating. So they try to meet in the middle of by having a procession and calling it that. And while they are doing the procession, there’s a voiceover that talks about the Lunar New Year. So they inform a lot of people that this is a celebration to ring in new prosperity, new beginnings where the year of the Tiger is coming from. And yeah, it’s it’s very short, informative, and really beautiful.

Ariel Landrum 7:04
So they had Tigger. Are there any other Tiger characters? I mean, aside from Rajah?

Stefanie Bautista 7:10
Yeah, that was the only other one. AJ was like, “Where is Rajah?” I’m like, I’m pretty sure people would kind of think a little bit. Yes, here’s Rajah, but also Where’s Jasmine? Although she could celebrate in the Lunar New Year, I think a lot more questions would have been asked and answered. If we saw Raja I’ll be at he is one of the most popular Tiger characters in in the Disney World. But I think Tigger was the one that thing was the most wanted to go with because he’s just so bouncy and happy and he was everywhere. There was like little Tigger. You’d see like a little tiger in a cookie that they had, they had special items that were only for Lunar New Year. I’m going to talk about that really quick because the food is always my favorite part of any Disney festival. Not only did they honor many Chinese traditions is having boa which is like a dumpling. They also had lots of noodles, which symbolizes longevity and long life. They had many many drinks they actually had boba in the park which I’ve never seen boba in the park. But line to that was insane. I mean, the outpouring of support and just excitement for Lunar New Year you could just feel it there. Many people came in traditional Vietnamese wear. Many people came in traditional Chinese wear. I didn’t see a lot of people in Korean wear or traditional Korean wear. But I think that a lot of Asian Disney fans like really embraced just you know, being at the park very similar to going to Dapper Day or going to you know, Mermaid Day or Goth Day. Like it’s their culture. It’s, you know, something that they love and identify with. But yeah, the lines were ridiculous for every single food stalls. So I know we’ve mentioned this in the podcast before but if you can do mobile ordering ahead, this would be one of those times to do it. And that was really the only way I could get what I wanted to which was the Hong Kong style milk tea, Vietnamese iced coffee and there was also a Korean bulgogi burrito. That was super super good. And it came with Ariel I don’t know if you’ve had these before but they’re they’re like shrimp chips but they start off as little like discs and when you fry them they blossom.

Ariel Landrum 9:31
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 9:31
They have that as the chips that came with the Korean bulgogi burrito and..

Ariel Landrum 9:35
Oh clever.

Stefanie Bautista 9:36
They put like garlic oil on it and it was like a game changer like I’ve been I’ve been eating the stuff since I was small but I just fry them and I just watched them bloom and it’s so cool. But adding the level of like garlic oil was just like in my 30 some odd years of life…

Ariel Landrum 9:54
How did I not think of this?

Stefanie Bautista 9:56
Yeah, how did I not think of this but also thank you Disney for opening my eyes to doing This Asian Festival. But yeah, the food is fantastic. And you can look online to see the different Lunar New Year foods that they have available. I think the festival is running for almost the whole month of February. So it’s kind of great that it started February 1. So they started this weekend, as we are coming up on the new month, and it’ll go up until then.

Ariel Landrum 10:23
I’m curious, is it similar to the food festivals and that you get a punch card? Or is it more of you have options at stalls? Because I haven’t been to a food festival since the pandemic. And ordering ahead is not really an option in regards. So has that changed? Because of the pandemic?

Stefanie Bautista 10:44
The short answer is yes, and no. There are abilities because they want everything to be accessible, right. And that’s really what this is all about. I think for the fans who are tech savvy, who kind of know what they’re getting into coming prepared, knowing that they are going to be battling long lines, and you know, when they’re going to be hungry, and we mentioned things like this, going back to the parks, now that, you know, we’re still in a pandemic. They have options for you to stand by in line in order, but they also have the sip and savor Pass, which is similar to what they had at the festival of holidays. And also the food, food and wine festival where you have like a badge and they have like six little tabs that you can pull off and redeem. But you also have the option of ordering ahead. So let’s say you’re in line at in a ride, and you go, “Hey, I want to eat this. But I don’t really want to stand in line. And I want to kind of just use this time to maybe order ahead and like pick it up, I’m ready.” You can always do that, too. So there’s many different ways of doing it. Definitely, if you want to reduce contact with people and standing in line, because you’re already standing in line to go on a ride, the order ahead option is always best. And I think because food is such a central part of Lunar New Year, it was very hard to avoid eating in a crowded space because it was super busy. It was the first week of Lunar New Year. And also, I mean, that’s what Lunar New Year’s all about gathering with, you know, your friends, your family, other people and just eating like market style. So I would say depending on your level of comfort, I would you know, choose the day that you would go on, because you are going to be around a lot of people and because Disney wants it to be accessible to everybody. You just kind of have to have that in the back of your mind.

Ariel Landrum 12:35
What would you say the most memorable part of the experience was?

Stefanie Bautista 12:39
Oh, the most memorable. I think just the atmosphere. The atmosphere was very different this time. I don’t know if it’s because there has been an outpouring for the AAPI community because of a lot of the struggles and a lot of the things that we’ve been seeing, you know, in social media and everything against you know, our elders and just Asian American actors and actresses, bringing awareness to the community. And I think that and mixed with Disney’s ability to reach out to a core member of their market really. I saw people who were not of Asian descent wearing the Lunar New Year jerseys wearing the Lunar New your ears. They had the ones from Mulan, so many people were wearing like their favorite Asian Disney Princess t shirt. Raya was a she is makes an appearance as a character. You can take a picture with Raya and she is near the Grand Californian where they have like this obstacle course it’s right next to grizzly River Run. And I think it’s like the Brother Bear like kind of obstacle course. They turn that into Kumandra.

Ariel Landrum 13:47
Oh, lovely.

Stefanie Bautista 13:49
Yeah, it’s awesome. And then they have lanterns and they make it look like that part of they make it look like that part of Kumandra. And she’s there. So you see little girls in their Raya outfits. And, you know, there are people of all walks of life. And I think it was just really great to see that people are embracing Asian American characters. Shang-Chi is still in his regular clothes, which I’m just like, “You guys just put him in his superhero outfit. Because he still looks like…” we saw him at Avengers campus talking to Black Widow and Captain Marvel. And we were like, “He looks like the IT guy. What is happening here?”

Ariel Landrum 14:33
When he was talking to them, was it a skit?

Stefanie Bautista 14:36
It was like pre performance.

Ariel Landrum 14:38
Ah okay okay.

Stefanie Bautista 14:39
So they were like, it was like they were existing. It was like that part where they’re just existing in the world. And they’re like talking next to the Quinjet and I’m gonna make him change.

Ariel Landrum 14:51
Oh poor IT guy.

Stefanie Bautista 14:52
But yeah, the poor IT guy but a lot of people wearing Shang-Chi shirts and just the outpouring have like the interest for Asian culture Asian food, the lines of the boba, like, I think that was just really heartwarming for me. Because you’ve you saw yourself fully represented in Disney culture. Whereas, you know, traditionally it was, you know, not like that. So I think that was a biggest thing for me taking a step back and just watching it all happen.

Ariel Landrum 15:21
Okay, okay.

Stefanie Bautista 15:23
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 15:24
Did you get a chance to try the boba?

Stefanie Bautista 15:25
I didn’t because the line was so long.

Ariel Landrum 15:28
Ah no!

Stefanie Bautista 15:28
I did it which is why I was like, I just want to get the milk tea. Because I really love milk tea and I like it a certain way. I don’t like it too sweet and I don’t like it too sugary. So I was like, okay, if every time I get boba I asked for 25% or less sweet. Like just I just need a hint of it.

Ariel Landrum 15:49
For our audience members who maybe don’t know what boba is?

Stefanie Bautista 15:54
So boba is very similar to tapioca pearls. If you eat it, it’s very much gelatinous. So it starts off as you know, like a really hard tapioca bubble and then you boil it and it kind of opens up and becomes this like jelly ball. Many people refer to it as bubble tea on in some parts of the country. Uh, we refer to it here in Southern California, and I think mainly on the west coast as boba. But they can always be referred to as like popping pearls or pearls, things like that. And then you you drink it with a bigger straw so that you can get the boba inside so, like, it’d be interchangeable with like, lychee jelly or coffee jelly, grass jelly, things like that.

Ariel Landrum 16:35
It’s in milk teas or non milk teas. We put it even in smoothies. We put in slushies.

Stefanie Bautista 16:40
Yeah, smoothies, slushies. Anything really, it’s just basically like an add on inside a drink. Yeah. So I didn’t get to try it. Because if you could visualize if anybody’s ever been to that back area of California Adventure, there’s a restaurant there. And the lines stretch all the way to almost Inside Out at Pixar pier.

Ariel Landrum 17:02
Oh, wow. That’s a long line.

Stefanie Bautista 17:06
Very long. So I didn’t get it. I was like, I just want milk tea. And it was like, oh, man, Disney you did it again. Like you nailed it. I could taste the black tea. I could taste the milk. I could. I didn’t want to put it down. I almost drink it all in one go, which was good. And I got a really cool bamboo Mulan Sipper with it.

Ariel Landrum 17:27
Oh!

Stefanie Bautista 17:28
Yeah. So what they do now is when you order like Order Special popcorn bucket, or a special sipper, they don’t put the drink in there anymore for you. They separate them so that you can have it pristine.

Ariel Landrum 17:39
Yes!

Stefanie Bautista 17:41
In case you want to sell it again, or if you want to display it and not have it tainted. So that’s really cool because I already have the Moana sipper bamboo super now I have the Mulan one. So maybe we’ll have a Raya one one day, that’d be really cool.

Ariel Landrum 17:55
Yes, complete the collection.

Stefanie Bautista 17:57
Yeah. Of Asian American characters on bamboo sippers.

Ariel Landrum 18:02
Just need Lilo and Nani.

Stefanie Bautista 18:04
I know. Oh, that’d be so cool. But yeah, I think it was it was really great. And I hope that it continues to grow. I hope that it continues to bring awareness to multicultural characters in Disney. And it’s really cool.

Ariel Landrum 18:21
Your favorite character is Stitch from Lilo and Stitch. And you mentioned they were there. Were they in a procession? Or did you actually get to like, engage and take a picture with them. Because the last time you mentioned your experience at Disney, it was at Merriest Nites. And you didn’t get to take a picture with Lilo and Stitch because of the line.

Stefanie Bautista 18:38
They were more represented in merchandise. They were not there actually.

Ariel Landrum 18:42
Oh okay.

Stefanie Bautista 18:42
I feel that because we have Adventureland at Disneyland and this was at California Adventure. They’re more represented over there than here. So I feel like because they did Merriest Nites with Hawaiian Merry Christmas, they probably decided to skip this one. And I know they’re very limited into which characters they decide to bring out because they don’t want people gathering too much. So I did not see them. But it was really nice to see Mulan and Mushu because I don’t see them very often either. They had an infographic in front of the Lunar New Year area where they would describe the different ways that Koreans, Chinese people and also Vietnamese people celebrate Lunar New Year. I think that that was beautifully represented because everybody kind of think oh Lunar New Year. It’s only you know, people who come from China, but it really isn’t. And I know that a couple of things about China and celebrating New Year’s Eve. In Northern China, they traditionally like eating food that’s made of flour like boa, like I mentioned earlier pancakes, noodles and dumplings, especially. Families often make these dishes from scratch. Everybody makes their dumplings together. They make everything as a family. Kids typically search for lucky coin inside the dumplings, please do not eat this coin. I’ve known of people who eat these and it’s just not fun. The dumplighs are usually served with fish as it symbolizes abundance. Oh my gosh, I totally, this reminds me, they serve the whole fried fish at a restaurant back then. And they specifically say good for two people had the amount of aunties and uncles that I saw just like going in on this fish, like, I felt like I was in Chinatown. And it was so awesome. And had I known that because the whole fried fish, I would have saved all my trips. But, I mean, that’s insane.

That again, is really good representation. Because I know, I know growing up, because I I grew up with more my white side of the family, the idea of a fish looking like a fish when you eat it was like so foreign and and essentially, like a little, you know, a little bit as you know, xenophobia literally like, “Ew gross that’s that’s nasty.” Trying to like really make it sound like this bad thing. And it’s like it’s fried fish. The difference is mine looks like a fish and yours is a stick!

Not in stick form. It’s true. And I think the fact that frying a whole fish symbolizes that you’re doing well. That’s not always the case. Usually, if you are frying fish, they’re very small and the you know, you just sprinkle them on top of your rice to fry a huge fish like that, like a soul fish, or even a flounder or something like that that’s symbolizes a special occasion. And I think that’s Disney really recognizing that and being able to share that with your family and friends. Kind of just goes along with the values of Lunar New Year. So it was really awesome to see whole fried fish and they’re like good for two. But really, if you’re at Disneyland, like could be good for four or five. Yeah, so they also talked about in Korea, how Lunar New Year is one of the most important traditional holidays. You are paying respect to your ancestors and elders, which was represented in you creating those paper wishes you could also honor your ancestors there too. It looked almost like it could be a shrine in itself. Everybody is bowing to each other, of course, especially deep when you’re bowing to your elders. Wearing in traditional costumes like hanbok, and also receiving money, words of wisdom for the New Year from your elders. In Vietnam, and if many of you don’t know Anaheim is situated right next to Fountain Valley in Garden Grove, which has a huge Vietnamese population like huge it could be you know, Little Saigon is what they call many parts of that area. They celebrate Tết. And they it’s also celebrated the family food. They had many versions of banh mi there, which is the traditional Vietnamese sandwich with a French baguette because of its influences from the French over the years in history. Sticky rice cakes are made and served and everybody like in other Asian cultures, they go to the temple to pray for good luck, health and fortune.

Ariel Landrum 23:15
That’s way that Lunar New Year is celebrated essentially in China and Korea and Vietnam. But those aren’t the only East Asian and Southeast Asian countries that celebrate Lunar New Year. So we definitely have Singapore. 75% of the population is actually Chinese. And so the largest Chinese New Year festival is actually held in Singapore, they move it around in different locations. And just like Stef mentioned the red envelopes, which usually have money in them. They usually have the phrase foo which means good luck. And it’s customary to also pay respect to Buddha at the temple and lighting incense.

Stefanie Bautista 24:00
Shout out to two Crazy Rich Asians was in Singapore and we saw a lot of that awesome stuff in there.

Ariel Landrum 24:06
And then in Malaysia, the Lunar New Year is seen as welcoming of spring and a chance for families to come together for an annual reunion dinner so instead of going out to a festival you’re sort of staying in and they celebrate the holiday for 15 days. They have a salad dish known as yee sang and that they serve at every table and that represents good luck and prosperity and some of the traditional outfits they wear are cheongsam which are red. And if you are celebrating your Zodiac year so if so if you’re the year the tiger you need to be wearing gold that year to attract abundance. And then in Taiwan, most people go home similar to Malaysia to celebrate New Year with their families. They of course have dumplings themselves neon gao, which is the most popular one. And then it’s closely followed by pineapple always serving pineapple.

Stefanie Bautista 25:05
Always.

Ariel Landrum 25:07
And then again an exchange of red envelopes. And of course neighborhoods set off fireworks. Stef you want to illuminate us to the sort of like final country that we have learned can cel celebrate Lunar New Year?

Stefanie Bautista 25:20
Definitely! In the Philippines, they do also celebrate Lunar New Year I’ll be it it kind of, as Filipinos love to drag on their holidays like how September marks the start of the holiday season. They do like to drag on New Year. And this is mainly because there’s so many people in the Philippines who come from other descent. So there’s a lot of Chinese Filipinos. And there’s also a lot of you can even see like Vietnamese Filipinos, Korean Filipinos. So all of those different practices come into play for people who are living in the Philippines. And because it’s such a trade based country, there’s also people who come from China, Korea, Malaysia, everywhere really in Southeast Asia living in the Philippines. So they do celebrate Lunar New Year as well as regular New Year. And many of those traditions kind of cross over. So for instance, when the clock strikes midnight in the Philippines, kids will jump really, really high to signify that you’re going to grow taller. Clearly, I did not jump high enough because that did not happen to me, even though I tried my best to jump.

Ariel Landrum 26:28
Same! Same!

Stefanie Bautista 26:30
But anyway, it’s just one of those superstitions that you could do either in regular, you know, our Solstice, New Year or Lunar New Year, the most traditional celebration of the Lunar New Year or regular New Year is media noche, which is where Filipino families come together for midnight to eat, and also celebrate a year of prosperity. This is normally when we open up our gifts. So if you got a gift for Lunar New Year, if you got your red envelope, you would open it then while you’re eating. The table is usually full of round shaped fruits, you always have to have a bowl of your oranges, your melons, your papayas. Even limes and lemons. Anything that is round in shape of avocados, if you live in America here in California. As long as it’s round, it represents good fortune. This tradition originated from China as well. The food that’s typically eaten during Lunar New Year in the Philippines includes sticky rice dishes such as beko, bibingka, and yan gao. But anything that’s sweet, you’ll probably see it on your table. One of the most unique superstitions of the Lunar New Year in the Philippines is choosing to wear polka dots, as a round shape represents prosperity and money and good fortune. You’ll also see it in the regular new year with a lot of aunties just wearing all the polka dots that they could possibly find. Hats, scarves, socks two piece suit that way. And if they do go to the temple, if they go to church, the next day, they will continue to wear those spots, bocce, that so that they can continue to having that good luck for wealth and good fortune.

Ariel Landrum 28:10
Obviously, we’re of Filipino descent. So some of these things are things that we just kind of are aware of from having a diverse friend group, and interacting with individuals who have various traditions and what their traditions look like. And then there’s a difference between being essentially Asian American, Pacific Islander American, and then actually coming from the country and migrating over here because the traditions are different in regards to accessibility of certain things. Just like Stef said, like we might do avocados, because that is essentially round. And it’s what’s accessible out here. If, technically, February might still be at least in the Midwest, some winter, so access to like oranges might not be as easily accessible. The other thing is that, and this was something that’s Stef and I were talking about before the podcast was some of the ways at least in the Philippines, that traditions are being celebrated, kind of also have to do with how you identify your heritage and the connection you have in closeness to the Chinese community. Do you want to touch on that a little bit?

Stefanie Bautista 29:18
Yeah, I know that for myself having an extended family of you know, Filipinos. There’s many of us who have backgrounds that come from different parts of Asia. So for example, I have a couple family members who are extended parts of my family who have Chinese heritage and that means their last names are not of Spanish descent like mine is my last name Bautista. And some of their last names are you know, Goh or Kim or Lym is a big one. Also, if you’re looking at the ways that these families decide to pick their profession is very much based on whether you are of other descent or if you are purely Filipino. I know that in the Philippines, we all look very, very different because of the years of…

Ariel Landrum 30:07
Mass colonization.

Stefanie Bautista 30:08
Yeah, mass colonization. Throughout hundreds of years of the Philippines. It was only really recently that we gained independence. So you have families that came into power because they had Chinese descent. Or because they had Korean descent or because they had Japanese descent in them. So for many of my family members who are of Chinese descent, they almost view as themselves as a little bit in a different class than a lot of other Filipinos. My personal experience traveling to the Philippines, I realized that wealth and power are associated with those who identify with having Chinese Filipino background. If you just look at people who are in the Philippine cabinet, and people who are have political power, many of them have Chinese last names. And that, you know, has a lot to do with the trade that happens there that has to do with a lot of job opportunities. People who are business, people who are doing trade with the neighboring countries. It’s just always kind of been an unspoken truth, that if you have Chinese descent, you’re most likely to be in a position of power. And that also has to correlate with your skin tone. People who have Chinese descent are naturally lighter in skin tone, as opposed to those who are coming from the Morra regions or of Spanish Spanish descent also. But if you’re like Morena, which is a little bit darker in skin tone, you might not be looked at, as you know, ideally, aesthetically pleasing or beautiful. Because you are have darker skin tone. Now, it’s 2022 I know a lot of these stereotypes have been you know, broken by you know, a lot of Filipinos who have been coming into the mainstream world. People such as even Miss Universe, Pia Wurtzbach, who is of German Filipino descent, she is a little bit darker in complexion than some of the other beauty queens that we’ve had in the past. And she completely embraces her darker skin and you know, people around her who have darker skin. But it’s you know, it goes without saying that a lot of stigma when it comes to just viewing yourself and your position in the world because of your skin tone, your last name and your family status is still very prevalent in the Philippines and in Asian countries. So although Lunar New Year is seen, as you know, a celebration for prosperity and wealth, we must also remember that that is not equal for everybody who is celebrating.

Ariel Landrum 32:44
And for those who aren’t aware what Stef is describing. She’s describing colorism. Colorism is a practice of favoring lighter skin over darker skin. It’s essentially a prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone and occurs typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group. There are social implications that come with the cultural meaning attached to skin color, that end up favoring or oppressing someone within that culture. I think that it’s important to highlight this because I’m a tenant of being a clinician of being a therapist is to get continuing education and one of them being what we call cultural awareness. In this case, I say cultural humility. Essentially, cultural humility is defined as a lifelong process of self reflection and self critique whereby someone not only learns about another’s culture, but starts with an examination of their own beliefs and cultural identities. And oftentimes, what happens when you are working with diverse populations is you only know about the surface things you don’t know about the intricacies of identity. Stef really touched on sort of like the Filipino experience, and I know, I have friends and clients who are Taiwanese, and their experience is in regards to having Chinese descent is very traught in. Some people vehemently identify themselves as Chinese and some people vehemently does identify themselves Taiwanese and that cultural aspect, and essentially, a lot of political war going on, goes all the way back to even as high as the Olympics. The Olympics in Taiwan is called the Chinese Taipei. That’s that app that is their identifier. They don’t get to go in as Taiwan because the Republic of China though they fled to Taiwan and established essentially Chinese culture. China considers Taiwan part of China. And so, though Taiwan runs very much like its own country, I’ve had experiences or not personally, but I’ve had friends whose experience will say that when they want to visit home they have to have a Chinese passport. And if they write on paperwork that they are Taiwanese, they’ve had people cross it out and write Chinese. And those are experiences you aren’t going to know about if you don’t actually take the time to have cultural humility and learn about someone’s experience. There’s something that I do with my clients when it comes to creating more social awareness that I talk about the difference between understanding something and accepting something. So many clients will say that, “Oh, I understand that.” It’s like, okay, so you’re saying that you comprehend it. But you when you accept something fully when you accept someone’s full lived experience fully, you’re also saying you believe it. And there are a lot of times when we’re trying to create a connection with someone that is very different than our own will say, “Yeah, that makes sense. I understand. But…” So it’s not that we we don’t understand it’s not that we don’t comprehend, we use our critical thinking it makes sense. But we’ve now are saying just because it makes sense, doesn’t mean I think it’s true. Basically, that I understand, but I don’t accept, or in another way of putting it. I comprehend. But I don’t believe.

Stefanie Bautista 36:23
And I think that’s definitely something that not many people take the second to pause and think about, because they’re, they’re very much into how they are responding as themselves, but also how they are looking from the outside and seeing like how they are responding because they don’t want to seem insensitive, right? They don’t want to seem like they are not making an effort to understand. But there are many layers and depth to that understanding. Something that I thought about while you were explaining was as a Filipino American who has been born here, I didn’t realize those intricacies until I took myself out of my Filipino American self and placed myself as a Filipino in the Philippines. And that is a whole nother level of depth and understanding of my heritage, what my identity is, because I’m in a different setting. And I think that’s true for a lot of second generation Asian American Pacific Islanders is that not only are we grappling with ourselves as AAPI members in the American community, but who are we when we go back to our homelands? Where our true heritage lies, is it? Are we one way or another? And I think that’s where a lot of struggles happen. And a lot of self realization can occur if we take the time to be graceful to ourselves about it, but also have that humility that you mentioned.

Ariel Landrum 37:53
In regards to Disney and diversity and representation. I’m curious, Stef, do you think that there should be more representation that is based in reality or more representation that is an amalgam of or diverse like Raya? So sort of like thinking of like Raya and Mulan, which do you think has essentially more weight and representation? Or should we do more both?

Stefanie Bautista 38:20
I mean, that’s, that’s a multi layered question. I think. I know we have spoken offline about how we felt about Raya and how we felt, you know, having Mulan as somebody who we grew up with. I think, for me speaking for myself, Mulan, because it was rooted in actual Chinese tradition. It took place in China. We knew where she was they were fighting the Huns. These were people who are rooted in history that we are seeing come to life through Disney story. And of course, it was based on an actual Legend of Fa Mulan. Raya, on the other hand, was a fictional country that pulled from many Southeast Asian countries, but it was never specified. It was one or the other. It was Kumandra, which is a fictional country. Fang, Talon, all of those places it named from a dragon looking, you know, area which could represent itself from, you know, the rivers that flow through type of through Thailand, through Vietnam, the rivers that flow through the Philippines, because everything is so disjointed. I feel like it’s hard to encapsulate all of that. And Southeast Asian experience, which really, it goes from India, all the way to the Philippines and really beyond. You could even count parts of Micronesia I know you know, Guam, looking at Moana and how those themes were routed in Māori culture which is way down south and that is is another entirely deep and beautiful culture that, you know, you’re spanning over huge parts of the world here. I think a little bit of both is needed. Because yes, you want people to be introduced to these countries. But also you want them to realize that they exist to this day and they have rich histories and cultures that we can reinterpret. I don’t know if you heard of the movie coming out called Turning Red.

Yes with the red panda!

The red panda, and the red panda she is Asian American. Living in America.

Ariel Landrum 40:34
Yeah. And I think San Francisco because it’s always San Francisco!

Stefanie Bautista 40:39
Yes. And really, I mean, the only San Francisco Bay Area Asian type of representation is what we got was Big Hero Six.

Ariel Landrum 40:48
Yeah Baymax.

Stefanie Bautista 40:49
That was San Fran. Tokyo, so it wasn’t even…

Ariel Landrum 40:53
No, San Fransokyo!

Stefanie Bautista 40:54
San Fransokyo. There you go.

Ariel Landrum 40:55
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 40:56
So it wasn’t it. It was again, a fictional, mishmosh of places. But, I mean, I think that representation is completely needed, because you’re going to have little girls who are growing up now, who are third generation who are living their Asian American truth, as third generation and their parents are Asian American. It’s, I feel like as we go on through time, and how people of our generation are creating these movies, they’re our age now. So they want to see things that their kids will enjoy and identify with. And all of those levels I there’s just so much more than we could ever thought of. When it comes to that.

Ariel Landrum 41:40
I like looking at it from the lens of here’s what a traditional experience might look like for this one culture. But also here is what an experience might look like for someone who has multiple cultures or is essentially a mix. Especially if I think of like my own experience as someone who’s has has mixed culture. It really is hard for me to pinpoint something being essentially one thing, and then even having that one culture be a culture that has been colonized so much that we have adopted a lot of things as our own. And if I think of some of my family members, who might be identified, essentially more as indigenous Filipinos, how it looks nothing like what I’ve seen as considered traditional Filipino traditions.

Stefanie Bautista 42:29
Yeah, definitely. I mean, I couldn’t even tell you if I asked my nieces or nephews in the Philippines, like who who do they see in themselves? A they’re all speaking English. So I mean, there’s that they are not speaking Tagalog, or Ilocano, or Bisaya. Or their own their own native tongue unless it’s translated into that. I think the addition of Ned’s Lola in Spider-Man…

Ariel Landrum 42:55
Yeah!

Stefanie Bautista 42:55
She was not speaking Tagalog. She was speaking another dialect. She was speaking in Ilocano, which is one like the second biggest dialect spoken in the Philippines. But those are people who do not live in Manila. They live in Cebu. They live in the other major large islands. But when you think of the Philippines, you really only think of the mainland or well Manila. The main the main island, as I should say, so I think just those little instances of, “Yes, you exist.” All of that is important. And I think even though some people had things to say about Raya being is she Filipino? Is she not Filipino? I think her existence itself as a very powerful Brown, long hair just, you know, amazing all around badass of a woman. I think that was enough. I think that reach in itself was important.

Ariel Landrum 43:49
I think this also brings up the notion when it comes to AAPI awareness. And something my my clients struggle with with any form of awareness or social justice, is they experience something that is kind of identified as moral anxiety. Moral anxiety is an emotion we feel in the face of a difficult moral decision. We want to do something right or just or good, but we’re just not really sure how we’re supposed to do that. Then oftentimes, uncertainty prompts us to investigate and we find options available to us. We consider reasons for or against an action and we make a decision. So moral anxiety has a function that’s twofold. It essentially signals us to let us know that we’re facing a difficult moral decision and it motivates us to actually have gather information and make a decision. The struggle some of my clients face is they face something called analysis paralysis. A lot of my clients have anxiety disorders a lot of my clients have are neurodivergent and so their brain wants to essentially overthink a problem. Analysis paralysis occurs when we’re unable to make a decision. And we’re essentially ruminating or what’s known as like spinning the thoughts over and over. Or maybe it’s either the same thought or stream of thoughts. And it feels almost like a whirlwind going in your head or, or like falling down a rabbit hole. And that fear of peds is from doing an action because we can’t figure out which action is the most appropriate or the maybe the most superior solution to a problem. I think that that is something that has happened a lot for even the general populace in supporting the AAPI community. Because the idea of what supporting the community looks like, is very different from someone who’s within the community and someone who’s outside of the community. And so I think about ways that I teach my clients to like resolve analysis paralysis, something that we definitely talk about is executive functioning, making a decision is using your prefrontal cortex your front brain, because you have to plan you have to reason you have to execute. Some individuals have executive functioning struggles. So something that I talk about my clients who want to create more action whose morals tell them that they need to support the community, but they don’t know how I talk about ways to remove the executive functioning struggle ways to remove how to activate yourself. So a lot of them think like, “Oh, I’m only supporting the community, if I’m the person at the podium, like essentially leading the chant. If I’m the leader.” And a lot of times what we need is people to join an organization or community and do establish tasks that you don’t have to think about, but we just need you to do them. A common one my clients have found very rewarding would be just like sending emails to senators, or bill makers, that scripts already made for them. So they don’t have to come up with what they need to say. They just need to take the time out of their day to do it. That feels like moral action that is necessary, it actually is necessary. So it’s not just a feeling it’s an it’s a way to move the organization forward. And it removes the stigma of trying to come up with something from the ground up.

Stefanie Bautista 47:14
Yeah, for sure. I think when we bring that down to the level of a child, they see these things happening, and they go, “Oh, how am I supposed to change it. I’m just the kid.” And you know, the they see themselves wanting to help, but they also see themselves limited. And it’s, I feel like I’m very mild version of analysis paralysis, because they’re just like, at a loss like, “How, how do I help? How, how do I make a difference just being one kid in the first, second, third, fourth, or fifth grade?” And really, we tell our kids at our school, it just starts with being an upstander to your friends, if your friend is eating their hot bowl of rice and soup, and it doesn’t look like a peanut butter sandwich, it’s normal. Don’t call him out on it. Don’t make a comment on it. Just say, “Hey, that looks good. What is it called?” Ask questions about it. That is the best thing that you can possibly do when you are at a loss for any information. You could just ask about it. Because I don’t think there is any world where if you ask what are you eating, people be like, I don’t tell you./

Ariel Landrum 48:21
No. It’s usually oh my god, this is so good. It’s blah, blah, blah. My mom made it. I got it from this place.

Stefanie Bautista 48:27
Absolutely. I mean, I think just those little things. Why you why you do certain things. Why when you go over to a friend’s house, why do you take off your shoes before you go in? I’m not saying “Oh, that’s weird, or ew what is that?” Those things are hurtful. And, you know, for kids being themselves, they don’t want to be conscious about how they’re doing things, because it’s been something that they’ve been doing for years, or you know, they see people that they love doing those things like eating stinky tofu or eating, you know, rice and sour soup. These are things that are embedded in their identity and their culture and they don’t want to second guess themselves about it. Another thing that we tell our kids is to support small Asian businesses, if you are hungry, maybe instead of going to McDonald’s, go to you know, a local Chinese bakery or a local Filipino bakery or…

Ariel Landrum 49:19
Or Jollibee!

Stefanie Bautista 49:20
Or Jollibee!

Ariel Landrum 49:21
It’s fast food!

Stefanie Bautista 49:22
Even the Jollibee now owns coffee bean which is so bizarre to me now. Whatever, but get that get that prosperity y’all. Like whatever. I think just knowing that there are businesses that you know, aren’t the Big Four are the big three. Wanting to go to an Asian market and play with the crabs there. That’s totally normal. Like those small things that are embedded into our everyday lives. I think if we if we give a little bit of love and curiosity to them, it’ll tell kids have, you know younger generations that it’s okay to accept something that’s different. And because it’s different doesn’t mean it’s bad.

Ariel Landrum 50:07
And going back to like, even the executive functioning, and moral anxiety analysis paralysis, a lot of people will say, well, like, Isn’t it rude for me to even ask? And this goes into really understanding the difference between asking a question with curiosity and questioning someone.

Stefanie Bautista 50:26
Yes, yes.

Ariel Landrum 50:27
When you’re questioning someone, it always feels like you’re being interrogated.

Stefanie Bautista 50:30
Yes…

Ariel Landrum 50:30
And you have to defend yourself. So, “Why are you eating that?” Does not sound curious. It doesn’t sound inviting, even though there’s a why in the question, it the tonal presentation implies that they have to justify their food choice, versus saying, “What are you eating?” And learning about that. Usually, that’ll come with the why that that’ll be, “Oh, I’m eating this. It’s my favorite food.” That’s all you need to know. That’s the only why you need to know or I’m eating this because it’s a Lunar New Year, and I want some good luck in my day.

Stefanie Bautista 51:01
Yeah, I know, for a lot of the teacher’s assistants and people who help out during lunchtime, I think if we’ve always told them, “Hey, if you see a kid eating something that’s different, like shout them out, be like, hey, you know, that looks really good. What is that? Does your mom make that for you? Like, that looks so good and appetizing? Like, I want to try that one day? Where can I find that?” Just kind of lifting them up in the small things that they have. Or you know, hey, that lunchbox is super cute, like, where did you get that? Just praising them for you know, their small things that make up their identity, I think is huge. And also diversifying your library for any educators out there, that is the best thing you could possibly do to represent your kids, no matter if they’re AAPI descent, they’re African American, if they’re, you know, of mixed race, the more you can diversify your library, the better you can, you know, reach out to your students without you having to do the heavy lifting. Because if they see themselves represented in a book, if they see themselves, you know, represented in pictures and writing, it doesn’t have to be a profound history lesson. It could just be like, hey, that kid looks like me.

Ariel Landrum 51:02
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 51:32
There is an author out there, there’s an illustrator out there that took the time to create this character that looks like me, I think that’s cool. And because I see myself represented, therefore I exist in this world, and I am not erased. And I think that’s the one of the biggest struggles of the AAPI community is the feeling of erasure. And that, you know, we exist simply to be in the background simply to be the model minority, just to kind of blend in with the crowd. And you know, just be thankful for your life here in America, which is very important. However, that doesn’t mean that you are taking up space in this world in this community.

Ariel Landrum 52:50
And really looking at the media were engaging in in regards to Asian created media, were the creators actually AAPI or not? And even with the model minority myth, that has led to a trope of the Asian best friend. As much as I love Disney media, even up into Spider-Man, his best friend is his Asian hype boy.

Stefanie Bautista 53:15
Who was behind the computer, aka the IT guy.

Ariel Landrum 53:18
The IT Guy. Yes, yes, literally calls himself the guy in the chair, I’m really accentuating that that’s a good thing. And no, it is not a bad thing. But when it becomes the fact that you engage in media, and that’s all you see of Asian representation, that starts to distort your belief system and thinking, and I know, in regards to mental health and wellness, when you don’t see a certain culture that you think struggles, you don’t provide them the support and aid that they need. And when it comes to you the way that Asians are represented in the media, it’s, you’re the smart one, you can figure it out, you have high prestige, you probably are a doctor, you probably are an engineer, you have all these things, quote unquote, going for you, that you there shouldn’t be a reason for you to be quote unquote, struggling. And that makes it a real, it feeds into a bias that we start to internalize. And when it comes to actually taking on media, where we start to see that this community has just as much struggles, if not more unique struggles or different struggles than me, that makes it easier to get access.

Stefanie Bautista 54:25
And multi layered structures. I mean, struggles that, you know, can stem from socioeconomic status to location to position to a self identity is a huge one that we especially a second generation Asian Americans struggle with. So, I mean, you’re absolutely right, just because you’re not seeing these struggles doesn’t mean they’re not happening. Because yes, there are struggles that you know, other cultures go through which, you know, we we do want to take care to highlight and be aware of it but diminishing another culture struggles is, you know, something that I feel like we’re slowly as a society moving away from which is great. But at the same time, I think on a level where you know, you are not consuming media like this, it really just has to be conscious in your everyday life that you know, you gotta you got to open your eyes a little bit more, and see who you’re around and just kind of take a step back because I know there’s a bigger conversation when it comes to workplace and diversifying the workplace diversifying. I mean, even people I know who work for Disney, I’ve been seeing many more opportunities given to Asian Americans. Netflix has a whole Instagram dedicated to Southeast Asian Americans called Netflix Golden, which popped up on my feed, I think just a couple days ago. And I was like, whoa, wait, what? Like, this is an I feel like everybody can kind of relate when they go. “This is weird, but I don’t hate it.”

Ariel Landrum 56:03
It’s like that pause of like, “I was not expecting this. And I I need to reconcile what I’m feeling right now.”

Stefanie Bautista 56:09
Yeah, I think they had a post. And I think it was a bunch of Netflix characters with their shoes on the bed. They were just hanging out with their shoes inside. And then it said, like, “The awkward pause when you’re trying to Netflix binge, but you notice all the shoes inside the house.” And I’m like…

Ariel Landrum 56:31
Okay, I have noticed that that’s true.

Stefanie Bautista 56:33
Yeah. I mean, it was like a scene from Stranger Things. It was like Never Have I Ever and a bunch of other like, super popular Netflix series. And I was like, LOL in my head. This is kind of funny. Cuz Yeah, these are things that like we would notice. Like, why? Why would they be doing that that’s, that’s not right. Or, you know, those, just the lens of specifically a South East Asian American watching Netflix shows, I think it’s so bizarre, but I’m here for it.

Ariel Landrum 57:03
When it comes to, you know, supporting the AAPI community in allowing your morals and values to move you forward. You know, there’s definitely engaging in Asian owned restaurants, engaging in Asian created media. The other thing is really attending a lot of Asian festivals. Just like because Lunar New Year is happening the first but it’s essentially going to go on all month, depending on the culture, there will be festivals. Take the time to go to them, they are outdoor, right, you can still wear your mask, you can social distance. But sitting in immersing yourself in the cultural experience is very different than sort of hearing about it.

Stefanie Bautista 57:46
Take the time to embrace every aspect of it. Because I’ve noticed over the years attending some of these markets and festivals, of course, many people go for the food because everybody can identify and connect with each other over food. But food is bad. And our food is Yeah. And that’s how a lot of you know, social media posts happen because you know, people are foodies. And that’s how they get their exposure. But take the time to watch the performances and the dances and maybe even like a martial arts demonstration, or you know, those types of things give you a different perspective on culture and dance. And performance is such a different way of expressing your culture that I think is so unique, and many people tend to forego because you have to stop and take the time to visualize and kind of soak it in. So I would challenge everyone to just like, look at the traditional dancing, like what does it tell you? Like, what stories do you pull from it? Because I feel like a lot of people Oh, you know, like, I love noodles and dumplings. And I loved Din Tai Fung and yet they don’t remember that there’s so many other aspects to you know, embracing that culture. And I think just stepping out of your comfort zone a little bit maybe could be very rewarding.

Ariel Landrum 59:09
Yeah, I think that there’s a lot of on the surface experience and really trying to go in deeper. Okay, so I watched this YouTube channel called Sorted. It is these four British guys who are best friends that one of them was a chef taught them how to cook. They branched out since that brand, and they had a good old Uncle Roger.

Stefanie Bautista 59:31
Oh, my boy Uncle Roger.

Ariel Landrum 59:33
Yes guest starring in a competition they’re making in regards to effect essentially like a fish soup. And one of the contestants put all kinds of seafood in his soup. And Uncle Roger said “That looks like it’d be good. No one would buy that. That is too expensive. That is not streetfood.” And all a hearing that you could see like the look on his face of it, that never occurred to me, because all the ways that he had the soup was essentially in a way that was more high end.

Stefanie Bautista 1:00:11
Mm hmm. Yeah. The main thing about Asian markets is that the food is close to dirt cheap.

Ariel Landrum 1:00:20
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 1:00:20
And that’s what’s fantastic about it, because then you could experience all the stalls. They’re really not supposed to be like, an I know 626 might Night Market is fantastic, but it will run your wallet a little bit if you’re not careful. I know everybody’s trying to make a living out here. And you know, food prices have gone up, especially since the pandemic happened.

Ariel Landrum 1:00:41
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 1:00:41
But at the same time, if you are looking at it from the perspective of accessibility, Night Market food is supposed to be meant to be affordable. And I totally understand that, you know, he’s right, no one would buy that. They will go to another spot and get the same exact thing for less because traditionally, it is seen as regarding to be frugal and not wasteful with your money because that is how you achieve prosperity and wealth.

Ariel Landrum 1:01:13
And even like other examples, I I know a lot of friends are like, “Well, I go to Korean BBQ.” It’s like, “Yes, but Korean BBQ is not the true like traditional regular meal. Like we aren’t sitting down and eating beef every single day. That is that’s that’s for like you graduated and we need to celebrate.”

Stefanie Bautista 1:01:34
Yes, absolutely. It’s not just like a regular meal. I mean, you lived in Korea Ariel. I’ve been to Korea. When I went I wasn’t trying to be like where is the all you can eat spot? That’s not a thing. It is an LA thing. It’s a total American thing. That I think that’s a whole nother nother conversation of Americans and the history of America changing Asian traditional foods to suit their palate and to suit their understanding of it. Their lifestyle. I mean, there’s so many documentaries around about General Tso’s chicken. There is a General Tso, he does not exist.

Ariel Landrum 1:02:16
Orange chicken!

Stefanie Bautista 1:02:17
Orange chicken, not a thing. Maybe orange or maybe fried chicken with like Mandarin peels that you could maybe find that but if you go and ask for, “Can I get orange chicken with fried rice?” You will most likely not get it. But yeah, like many of these things are just offshoots and tangents of you know, interpretations of traditional Asian dishes. And yeah, like I think the all you can eat thing was like the biggest realization of that, especially living in Southern California, where it’s a part of everyday life, but also, you really want to try not to mistake it for everyday Korean life.

Ariel Landrum 1:02:55
So we’ve definitely talked about ways that support the community certainly talked about what we hope Disney will add, change or adapt. And we talked about the festival that Disney had. Because this podcast is about a new year. I would like us to share our new year resolutions for this podcast. I’ll have you got Stef haha!

Stefanie Bautista 1:03:19
Ah, okay. Well, I mean, for me, I am so thankful that we are still doing this podcast we pass the the seven episode itch or what have you?

Ariel Landrum 1:03:29
Yes, yes, the curse. After seven episodes, it never happens again.

Stefanie Bautista 1:03:33
I think that’s a sign of prosperity. But I am so thankful for this opportunity to even like talk about things like my identity and my heritage through a Disney medium. I think that’s so unique and awesome. I know, there’s many, many podcasts out there. And I thank you all for choosing this one to spend your time with either on your drive in the shower, or whatever you want to do, we are here with you. So I want to keep it consistent. I think me and Ariel have found a really good groove on you know, doing this whole thing. And I think as we delve deeper and deeper and deeper into the layers of Disney, it’s different avenues of media. There’s just so much more to unpack. And you know, even though I think because we are coming to you with a psychological lens a educational lens, there are a lot of heavy things that we do think about and we do talk about. But we also want to highlight that, you know, this is still the Happiest Pod on Earth. And we want to make sure that we are keeping the happy in there. So I think finding that really good balance between the two helps me individually and I hope it helps you all too. So more sponsorships and partnerships if you guys want to partner with us. I would love to! Catch me at Disneyland with a tripod next time haha! And I would love to incorporate more educational resources I think as a new wave of teachers are coming in those of you who are staying in the profession, thank you. It’s hard, we are struggling every day and I see you, I’m going through it. And I understand if you are somebody who used to work in education and just couldn’t do any more I see you too It, it’s been a tough couple of years for us. So I think as you know, we get new people, we can work together and create more educational resources. And hopefully Disney sees that. That would be great. How about you, Ariel?

Ariel Landrum 1:05:28
My resolutions for the podcast is some regular shooting schedule, which is very difficult because our schedules are like not the same.

Stefanie Bautista 1:05:36
Consistency!

Ariel Landrum 1:05:38
But uh, in regards to consistency, at least knowing that we released earlier podcast episode a month, at minimum? As a as a baseline baseline, not minimum. The baseline.

Stefanie Bautista 1:05:50
Baseline, I like that.

Ariel Landrum 1:05:51
I’d like to dive deeper into specific characters we mentioned a few in each episode. But really diving deep into one given like highlighting or celebrating and essentially challenging one specific character, I think that would be really interesting. I want to increase connecting to the rest of the GT network, I’d like to have more of our fellow podcasters as guests on our channel here, seeing if we do some cross pollenization as it where. Definitely sponsorships and partnerships or donations and fundings would be really cool. I’d like us to present a panel and be panelists at a convention, when it comes to specifically the clinical psychological lens, say same notes to as Stef, all you therapists, whether you’re still doing it, whether you’ve stopped whether you’ve pivoted and are doing something completely different. I see you this is huge burnout in regards to most, I would say 98% of the clinicians weren’t doing telehealth, right. So that was learning that process was a huge bitch. And there’s so much burnout because everyone is struggling and we’re wanting them to be the ones holding the load were essentially Luisa. Take a break. Take a break.

Stefanie Bautista 1:07:11
Take a break. The donkeys will handle it.

Ariel Landrum 1:07:14
The donkeys will handle it. Take it take a week break if you can, two weeks preferably. I just really want to see us being rejuvenated and not essentially being burnt out this year. And I’m hoping that this podcast will give new lens and insight that can rejuvenate the desire to utilize essentially Disney in mental health, seeing how our way of helping our clients doesn’t have to be like Stef said, it doesn’t have to be sad, it can be happy. It can be exciting. It can be interesting. It can be curious. It can it can have resolution and healing, and not really always being like this long void of pain.

Stefanie Bautista 1:08:01
Yeah. Thank you for the work you do. By the way.

Ariel Landrum 1:08:04
Nah thank you Oh my gawd.

Stefanie Bautista 1:08:07
We are both struggling. I think this brand new year I feel like is refreshing. Even though we’re like a year three into this thing. I have high hopes. And I think as long as we continue to be there for each other, continue to listen to each other and continue to have grace and humility for one another. I think we can all come out of this with a better understanding of each other so that we can live our lives and hopefully even though it’s probably not going to be the same normal. We’re used to some sense of normality.

Ariel Landrum 1:08:46
Yes, yes. So in signing off if you are the year of the Tiger if you want to let us know your traditions for Lunar New Year or how you celebrated the calendar New Year. Please please tweet at us @HappiestPodGT or DM us at @HappiestPodGT. If also you have suggestions for things you want us to talk about on the podcast please holler at us let us know. We know there’s been a lot of random Disney drama going on out there. We don’t be sipping in the drama too much but if you need us to spill the tea we will spill the tea.

Stefanie Bautista 1:09:29
We will spill it in through through a therapy and an education lens. We will spell it. It will still be spelt but it will have a filter.

Ariel Landrum 1:09:38
Yeah, it’ll be it’ll be contained spillment.

Stefanie Bautista 1:09:40
Contained spillment? Alright everyone, we will see you next episode. Take care.

Ariel Landrum 1:09:48
Bye!

Stefanie Bautista 1:09:48
Bye!

Media/Characters Mentioned
  • Tiger
  • Rajah
  • Mulan
  • Raya
  • Lilo
  • Nani
  • Moana
Topics/Themes Mentioned
  • Holidays
  • Music
  • Tradition
  • Diversity
  • Family
  • Festival
  • Food
  • AAPI
  • Support
  • Social jusice
  • Social awareness
  • Analysis paralysis
  • Moral anxiety
  • Colorism
  • Anxiety

Questions? Comments? Discuss this episode on the GT Forum.

—

 Website: happy.geektherapy.com
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 | Stef on Twitter: @stefa_kneee | Ariel on Instagram: @airyell3000 |

Geek Therapy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit with the mission of advocating for the effective and meaningful use of popular media in therapeutic, educational, and community practice.
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We DO Talk About Bruno

January 8, 2022 · Discuss on the GT Forum

https://media.blubrry.com/happypod/media.transistor.fm/26a5605e/ace8900d.mp3

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#26: Ariel, Stef, and special guest and past host Josué welcome listeners to the family Madrigal! In this episode, they highlight the themes of visual symbolism and color schemes to generational trauma and family roles that can be found in Disney’s Encanto.

Read the blog post for this episode for additional references and resources.

Become a member of Geek Therapy on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/geektherapy

Transcription

Stefanie Bautista 0:11
Hello, everyone, welcome to the Happiest Pod on Earth. I’m Stef.

Ariel Landrum 0:15
And I’m Ariel.

Josué Cardona 0:16
And I’m Josué.

Ariel Landrum 0:17
And we’re all Disney fans! But really so much more.

Stefanie Bautista 0:20
Yes, I’m an educator who uses her passions and fandoms to help my students grow and learn about themselves and the world around them.

Ariel Landrum 0:26
And I’m a licensed therapist who uses clients passions and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma and mental and wellness.

Josué Cardona 0:32
And I used to host this podcast and now I’m back.

Ariel Landrum 0:36
And Happiest Pod is a place where we dissect Disney mediums with the critical lens.

Stefanie Bautista 0:39
Why do we do that? Because just like we are more than just fans, we expect more from the mediums we consume.

Ariel Landrum 0:45
So Josué. what are we talking about today?

Josué Cardona 0:48
So um, you know, last time I was here, we wrapped up by saying what we’re most looking forward to regarding Disney. And I said Encanto was the thing that I was most looking forward to.

Stefanie Bautista 0:59
Yes.

Josué Cardona 1:00
Yeah. And it delivered.

Stefanie Bautista 1:05
It sure did.

Ariel Landrum 1:06
So what specifically is in Encanto that word or term? How are we interpreting it? And then how are we interpreting it in the form of this movie?

Josué Cardona 1:14
Good question. I’m curious I’m curious what but both of you think. I have I’ve done I have like five layers the more I watch the movie.

Ariel Landrum 1:22
We watch these I don’t know if they were called like shorts or like it’s short interviews with Lin Manuel and some of the cast members and they were describing encanto as like your joy, your magic. The the reason you lived almost like not so much purpose. But the the value that you see in your life in your world, in that you can almost ascribe it to anything you can describe it to a location like this place is in cncanto. Or you can ascribe it to a feeling.

Josué Cardona 1:51
Yeah, yeah, it’s funny in Spanish. When you say like, “I’m pleased to meet you,” or like “It’s a it’s a pleasure to meet you.” I guess it’s it would most translate to in English like, “Oh, I’m Charmed.” Right? But but But you say like, oh, you know, and un encanto like to meet you, it’s like, oh, it’s a pleasure. And it can also in Spanish, at least I do. And in Puerto Rico, they use the word to, like in English when we say “I really like something” or like, “I love something.” So in Spanish who would say you know, megusta would be like I like but me encanta would be like, like, I love that thing. And it’s almost like again, like you’re maybe you’re enchanted by it, right? Like it. There’s something I never think about it in that way. And so so when I first heard about the movie to me, it was like, oh, like, oh, there’s this enchantment. Right. And in very much the, the magical fantasy fairy tale way. And I had no idea what the movie was, was going to be, but that’s cool. It’s like it’s gonna be a, like a, like a Latin American fairy tale. But I have a completely different way of thinking of the word now after watching the movie.

Stefanie Bautista 3:03
Yeah, definitely.

Ariel Landrum 3:04
Okay, how did it change?

Josué Cardona 3:06
But I see it as an enchantment in the sense of an illusion, like something that’s not real, almost like a lie.

Oh.

Ariel Landrum 3:15
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 3:16
Foreshadowing.

Ariel Landrum 3:18
Trickery!

Josué Cardona 3:21
It can definitely I feel like it can definitely be that. Ya know.

Stefanie Bautista 3:25
I mean, for me, I speak Tagalog. And obviously Tagalog has a lot of Spanish background, and it pulls a lot from you know, Spanish. And when I heard encanto the, the word itself, I pulled canta means to sing. And so I’m not sure about the evolution or the history of that. But when I watched it, I was like, “Oh, this makes sense. They’re singing a ton.” I mean, I knew that it meant something like enchantment, and something like that. Because, you know, all the interviews and all the things that all the trailers that were leading up to it, you know, there’s magic, everybody has powers, and you know, even the houses alive, like, I knew it was going to be some sort of magical thing, but I just kept thinking sing in my head.

Josué Cardona 4:11
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 4:12
And even before knowing Lin Manual Miranda was involved in this. I was like this is gonna be a musical for sure. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, it’s an your worm…

Ariel Landrum 4:22
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 4:22
For everyone and everything. It’s everywhere.

Josué Cardona 4:25
Because it’s funny the language aspect of it. And I’m sure I’ll bring this up, like 100 times during this conversation, but I went, I watched it in Spanish. And of course, there’s a lot of Spanish words in it. I even watched part of it in French afterwards, just to see how they treated the Spanish in it. And it’s really respectful and I like that. One time I was watching it in English, I had the subtitles on the closed captions. And they miss translated one of the one of the words in it. And it’s so funny because it just like you said, like Encanto like, oh, and Encanto has gone to like the word singing in the word. So there’s a part I’m in the Dos Oruguitas scene where they sing in Spanish it says “Con sentimiento,” which is with feeling the subtitle it says, with consent, because consentimiento is the word for consent, but it’s actually two words in the song with feeling, but they translated as as as consent. I love language anyway, I think that’s gonna play I think that plays a big part of in the movie, like, because the words that we use to describe things aren’t necessarily the best ones or, or we’re not all in agreement.

Ariel Landrum 5:41
That Google Translate, though.

Stefanie Bautista 5:44
It’s not always reliable. And I feel as Disney reaches out and does more ethnic content. I mean, you really have to think about the way it’s being translated into English. I mean, there’s so many times I know Josué you know, when we’re watching anime, and you know, certain words mean something in, in Japanese, but then when you read the English subtitles, you’re like, “That’s not what they mean. That’s not exactly what they’re trying to say. But I mean, I guess, good job?” But it doesn’t necessarily convey exactly what the feeling is. So I’m curious to see that, you know, how they’re gonna take it from now on.

Josué Cardona 6:20
I mean, so when I, when I lived in Puerto Rico, whenever there was a Disney movie, it would always appear in theaters in Spanish. And I feelings about that. And as a kid, like, that’s a whole other podcast. But I think, you know, they’ve, and you can tell on Disney+, like, whenever you go into any, any new movie, it’s just in so many languages. And, you know, it’s, I mean, it’s always been part of their thing. But it’s, it’s hard when you have songs too right? Like so many Disney movies are musicals, and they have these songs that are translated, and there’s so much that can get lost in translation, or completely, it’s, there’s just a lot, right, not just the cultural aspect. I mean, there’s some movies, right, there’s some Disney movies that are that are so like, you take Aladdin as as like a 90s example. And maybe Hercules feels that way too. I’m trying to think of a newer one where I had this feeling. But it’s like they’re making pop culture references like of the moment, but of course, they’re like American pop culture references, and how do you translate that in other languages and other in other parts of the world? It’s very, that’s an art form in itself.

Ariel Landrum 7:31
I was watching TikTocs with people who had watched the movie in English and in Spanish, and they had mentioned that there were parts that were more meaningful because they were in Spanish that the way that they had to change the translation in English, it lost a little bit of its depth. And spoilers spoiler there’s all spoilers don’t listen to this if you haven’t seen it, they were gonna spoil it. This is a spoiler I’m going to mention again spoiler if you go to the end and say we spoiled it for you. Yeah, cuz they’re spoilers.

Stefanie Bautista 8:03
Turn off. Now listen to another episode, if you have not seen in Encanto go real quick, quick, quick, quick.

Ariel Landrum 8:08
It’s on Disney+

Stefanie Bautista 8:09
And come back.

Ariel Landrum 8:10
Yes. And so at the very end, I’m going to start with the very end someone had pointed out on Tik Tok that, in English, we say, we made this for you. And they gave a doorknob tomb Mirabel, but I guess in the Spanish version there, they actually said this was waiting for you.

Stefanie Bautista 8:30
Oh, that’s different.

Josué Cardona 8:31
I don’t remember that. I was trying to I was trying to pick out the small things like that, because there’s a lot of them.

Ariel Landrum 8:36
Essentially, they were saying that the the nuance that you miss is that she was always meant to have a door. And that her door was always meant to be the house and saying that we made this for you. Makes it sound like again, it was a gathering of the family and the community connectedness this, which is what made the house come together.

Stefanie Bautista 8:55
Yeah, I would have translated that as, “You finally get one, because it was never written in the stars.” But it makes so much more sense. If I think about that it had always been there for you. You just needed to seek it out a different way.

Ariel Landrum 9:10
And it was the doorknob, like the exact design of the original one when she was a little kid because it did have the M.

Stefanie Bautista 9:16
Yeah. That’s interesting. I mean, that changes the whole thing for me, because then it’s not like they’re finally giving her validation in the sense that they’re accepting her it’s validation in the sense that she had always been a part an essential part of the family, which is much deeper than you know, you can finally you know, be Madrigal like you always wanted to be so that’s interesting.

Josué Cardona 9:39
Okay, so so I’m looking at the scene right? And Antonio handed to her in the subtitles in Spanish it still says, “We made this for you.” Estoy para aquí porte,” he says in Spanish, which is like “It’s it’s waiting for you.” It’s not so much like it was waiting for you. But I mean, there is a subtle difference like I guess it it could be like, we made this for you. It’s been, we’ve been waiting to give it to you or this has been here waiting for you.

Ariel Landrum 10:07
Yeah, the TikTocker or had interpreted it as like this item and always been here and it’s been waiting for you. And then to say that the family made it was is essentially alluding to, for the American audience is like, “Oh, now your family accepts you.” Versus like, “You always had value and purpose.”

Josué Cardona 10:26
Yeah, yeah. I found like four different interpretations for the movie in general.

Ariel Landrum 10:31
Okay.

Josué Cardona 10:33
Yeah, yeah. But but the language stuff like subtle things like that can make a huge difference. Well, there’s like the enchantment piece. And the miracle, like, if you go back, and you start looking at when they refer to it as the Encanto and when they refer to the miracle, those are two different things, I think. Yeah. And then there’s also the idea of the gift. In Spanish, they use two different words. In English, I guess you could say, like, your gift or, or it’s funny in French, who says pouvoir which, I believe is like power. And then. But in Spanish, there’s a word that’s I dong, which is like, it’s more like, talent or skill.

Ariel Landrum 11:13
Okay.

Josué Cardona 11:14
Right. Like the nuance between saying, like, this is an ability, like, is this like, an ability that you earned and grew and developed or an ability that you were given because of this miracle? Like, there’s, there’s a lot of nuance there. And depending, you know, and I didn’t think about it until you you think of the different words. And again, like, the language, just even just an English as using different words can mean different things.

Ariel Landrum 11:40
Yeah. And there’s so much nuance. And I don’t know if I’m, for me, personally have seen any other Disney movie that has had that same nuance, and maybe it’s because I’m seeing more people talk about it, and so that’s what’s having me notice, or if it was intentional by the creators, and maybe a mix of both.

Josué Cardona 12:01
Yeah, I feel the same way. I was thinking, I don’t think I’ve ever studied Disney movie this hard. What makes it super helpful for like Geek Therapy conversations is how relatable that can be and different ways that it is relatable, the more helpful it can be. And I keep seeing so many layers in it. And I don’t know like I feel like Elsa’s movies. What else has movies called?

Ariel Landrum 12:24
Oh Frozen.

Josué Cardona 12:25
Frozen. I’m like yeah, what?

Ariel Landrum 12:26
Oh, I was about to say ice age for like a quick second.

Stefanie Bautista 12:33
Oh, yeah.

Josué Cardona 12:34
Yeah, so my dad, no, it doesn’t DreamWorks. So they’re technically not Disney movies.

Stefanie Bautista 12:40
That’s not even Disney.

Ariel Landrum 12:42
Yes, yes. They’re not even Disney.

Stefanie Bautista 12:45
They fully have animals, not even people.

Ariel Landrum 12:48
So does that count as one?

Stefanie Bautista 12:50
Oh, my gosh, we haven’t counted in a very long time.

Ariel Landrum 12:53
It is a new year. If you are new audience member and you have not been listening to our past episodes. I have a tendency to name things very similar, but not the same. And they match in my mind. And so I think this counts as one.

Josué Cardona 13:08
Like consentimiento and consent.

Ariel Landrum 13:10
Yes, exactly. That is exactly it.

Stefanie Bautista 13:14
The Ice Age one threw me for a loop. I had no idea where that came from.

Ariel Landrum 13:17
Well, I went in my head. So this is exactly what went in my head. He said, “What was that Elsa movie?” And I was like, “Frozone? No, that’s a character so must be something with Ice. Ice Age. That’s it. That’s a movie. Oh, no, wait, no, it’s Frozen.”

Stefanie Bautista 13:31
Frozen.

Josué Cardona 13:32
I want to study you Ariel.

Stefanie Bautista 13:35
Do a deep dive. Let’s do another rewatch of Ariel and see what we find out. But anyway, um..

Ariel Landrum 13:47
Not studying me studying the movie that we were talking about.

Josué Cardona 13:54
Yeah, I feel like Frozen one was way more straightforward, Frozen two have had more depth, where like, on a second viewing, I felt like oh, that song means something different. Like, Let It Go just means Let It Go. But like…

Stefanie Bautista 14:09
Into the Unknown?

Josué Cardona 14:09
Into the Unknown has has some depth, right? It’s like, “Wait a minute. That’s a few different things happening at the same time.” And this one, I feel just a lot of that. And not just because of the of the language and the culture piece. I think just the story that it’s telling has lots of different layers. It’s almost like, the last time I watched the movie, I felt like I could see multiple things happening at once. And they’re saying one thing, but at the same time you see something else happening? And you could interpret either one.

Stefanie Bautista 14:42
I think I I’m glad that you mentioned that because I remember when I started to watching Encanto. It felt a little messy to me, because I didn’t know the perspective it was trying to take at first because she was introducing them as if like she was yes introducing us to her world and her family when she’s talking to me these kids, but then it was almost like a show she was introducing.

Ariel Landrum 15:04
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 15:05
And I’m like, “Wait, is it gonna take that like breaking the fourth wall perspective? Is it not? Is she involved in this? The kids seem to be aware but not fully informed of what’s going on, which is why they’re asking her all these things?” in the opening number. And they keep asking her like, “What’s your gift? What’s your gift? What’s your gift?” And she keeps avoiding it, avoiding it, avoiding it, then you’re like, “Okay, I see where this is going. You you’re taking this outsider perspective, but like, with an insider, I, and it confused me for a bit, but then as the song kept going, I was like, “Okay, I kind of see what’s happening here.” And another thing is, I like how you mentioned Frozen, and I’m thinking Moana, because all of those are not Pixar, but also CGI Disney movies.

Josué Cardona 15:50
Yep. Yep.

Stefanie Bautista 15:51
And I feel like that depth and multi perspective. Let’s do another rewatch, and see what else we get from this is very common in all of those movies.

Ariel Landrum 16:00
Mm hmm.

Josué Cardona 16:01
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 16:02
And, and when I think of that first intro song, I, I when I saw it, and I heard it, I immediately thought like, “Oh, at some point, they’re gonna make this into a Broadway play, because there’s no way that this song isn’t the start of a Broadway musical.”

Stefanie Bautista 16:14
Yes, exactly.

Ariel Landrum 16:15
And I was like, “Well, I know who wrote it. So that makes sense. Like, okay.” But then I got that, that shift when they were pressing her and pressing her was like, “Oh, there’s a tonal shift here.

Stefanie Bautista 16:26
Mm hmm.

Ariel Landrum 16:26
Watching the shorts. There’s like a part. Lin Manuel wrote as a trumpet sound and, and then she had to sing it like that trumpet sound. And he he was like, “Well, I trusted that you know, Stepahnie could do it. I trusted that she could do it.” But when you hear the way the trumpet goes, and how she sings it, it’s like she’s cracking in her voice. Like, “Oh, my God, they’re gonna catch they’re gonna, they’re gonna know that I’m the one who’s not gifted.”

Josué Cardona 16:52
Yeah yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 16:54
she thinks that hurriedly to like, she’s just like, I can’t really keep up. And I’m like, really trying to avoid it. But I mean, even mentioning that her voice is cracking that kind of alludes to the house later on.

Ariel Landrum 17:06
Yes

Stefanie Bautista 17:07
So yeah.

Ariel Landrum 17:09
Symbolism. Depth.

Stefanie Bautista 17:10
It’s heavy! So much.

Josué Cardona 17:16
I just thought one of the funniest jokes I saw online about that song at the beginning, was that there’s only six cousins. She makes it seem like so complicated. And so there’s only six cousins. The family is not that big. They all fit in one house.

Stefanie Bautista 17:30
Doesn’t it make you think of your family? And you’re like, “Oh, I have to keep track of like 16 to 20 something. And she’s only keeping track of six.”

Josué Cardona 17:39
Yeah, like I went to visit a an aunt once in, like my grandmother sister in Delaware. And they owned like eight houses in the area. And they were over 40 cousins at that point. I was like, “This is ridiculous.” I never even met them all. I was there for two days. Yeah. So…

Stefanie Bautista 17:56
I think maybe that would have blown the general audience’s mind a little bit too much.

Josué Cardona 18:02
But my favorite part of this of the of that whole scene is at the end when the kids at the end say like, “I think you’re I think your power is denial.”

Ariel Landrum 18:12
Denial is not just a river Egypt.

Stefanie Bautista 18:17
Your power is denial. And were like, “Hmmhmm I can relate.”

Josué Cardona 18:20
Yeah, yeah.

Ariel Landrum 18:22
I subscribe.

Stefanie Bautista 18:23
Yup. Did the opening the family madrigal song remind you of the first song in Beauty and the Beast because of the way it was paced, and that, you know, just keeps getting faster and just like in Beauty and the Beast, how like the townspeople end up? Joining along. At the end, I immediately went to beauty in the piece. And I’m like, Oh, this is like the same pacing, but like, on a grander scale. So I don’t know if you guys, it reminded you of anything, but I was just like, “Oh, this is kind of like it’s kind of Beauty and the Beast. Where we’re being introduced in…”

Josué Cardona 18:57
Yeah, and it’s an introduction. Yeah. To the characters and the location. Right. It’s like literally moving you through and Yeah, welcome to the although in this case, it’s Welcome to La Familia Madrigal, right. And there. It’s like, what what does it say? In in Beauty and the Beast?

Stefanie Bautista 19:13
Their singing about Bell.

Josué Cardona 19:14
Oh right, it’s like an introduction to her and anyways, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 19:18
Okay. Curious. Where did everybody see it?

Stefanie Bautista 19:20
I watched it right. When it was the day it was released at home. Yeah. So I did have to pause a couple times. Because of my child. He did sit through like the first five minutes of it, because there was just like, lots of colors and stuff. And that was really cool. And then he just bounced, he’s like, this is too much exposition for me at this point. I need to go.

Ariel Landrum 19:44
Peace out. Mama.

Stefanie Bautista 19:45
Tell me tell me the synopsis later. I’ll listen to the podcast.

Josué Cardona 19:50
I saw it at home as well. COVID you know, I wanted to I couldn’t bring myself to do it. And and so yeah, was it couple days after it came out on Disney+ that I saw it.

Ariel Landrum 20:02
So I saw it in theaters when it came out that that opening weekend in Thousand Oaks which for those who aren’t around here that’s like the rich neighborhood. And the funny thing is their AMC tickets are cheaper than our area, which is not the rich neighborhood. So that’s odd. But we chose that one really, because there was when we bought the tickets like that night, there were only two other people in the theater. So I was like, oh, and it was lounger seats. And it was one of those like, you could order from your seat if you wanted to. And it was my roommate, Greg and my roommate Travis, who we have had on the podcast before. We got up close parking. It was actually very magical. There was nobody in the theater the musical was great. The movie was great. We and then I bought the ectoplasm popcorn bucket from Ghostbusters. They had one it was a gift from my partner it did not have any signatures on it. So apparently What’s His face had signed them secretly some of them… Uhh

Josué Cardona 21:05
Slimer?

Stefanie Bautista 21:07
Bill Murray,?

Josué Cardona 21:09
Dan Aykroyd?

Ariel Landrum 21:09
That’s it. Dan Aykroyd okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah

Stefanie Bautista 21:12
We were gonna Slammer was a good guess though. blah

Ariel Landrum 21:18
I really liked it in theaters. I felt bad for the like the other two people that were there because I think they were on a date and they probably would have liked to just have the theater to themselves. And it was just like these three mooches like in the middle.

Josué Cardona 21:29
Sucks to be them.

Stefanie Bautista 21:30
Nah they know what they were getting into. They know what they’re getting into. Pick another theater. Good job. Nice. Did you watch it at night Ariel?

Ariel Landrum 21:40
Did watch it at night. It was a Saturday night. I will be honest, when I first saw it in theaters, so much was had happened. Like in the movie. When I left. I was like, “I don’t know, I can’t tell if I like this or not.” And then in watching it at home with my roommates, who also sort of other roommates. I have too many roommates. We live in LA so that’s what happens. But anyways, they also said “Well, I don’t know if I like this or not. I have to think about this.” And I had already processed it that I loved it. And I think the pause for me was I was I was looking for a bad guy. I for me the what I took was like the bad guy being essentially generational trauma.

Stefanie Bautista 22:20
Oh, yeah.

Ariel Landrum 22:21
Because I was looking for that that boogeyman to just like pop out and never did. I was like, where’s I’m I don’t know, if I feel resolution yet. When I saw it the from that lens the second time, I loved it, because I saw all the intricacies and like, like facial expressions and nods and the way people were communicating with each other and, and even like I would say for a lot of the women like, man, their most expressive facial expressions, like if I look at other Disney princess movies or other Disney movies with women, like they got two faces. Like that’s, that’s pretty much about it. And I could see just like, like, what we see Luisa eye twitching. Like it was great. It was great.

Josué Cardona 23:01
I think Moana and the Frozen movies do the same thing. They’re like, there’s it’s everybody’s misunderstood or they have different intentions, right? And like, there’s no, there’s no bad guy in them. Or love interest either.

Stefanie Bautista 23:15
Both movies are very family centric.

Josué Cardona 23:18
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 23:18
I mean Frozen. You have the struggle between the two sisters now sans parents, and how they’re navigating their community, their world and their responsibility. Same with Moana. What is her responsibility as somebody coming into this established family and path for her? And then now you’re talking about Mirabel. And what is her role? There isn’t a clear path because she’s an outlier, technically. So where does she fit in, in this puzzle, which is so essential to her community? Like those unknowns become your villain?

Ariel Landrum 23:54
Mm hmm. And that’s it almost feels too real and unsettling. And it’s like, “But this is a movie about a family with magical powers. Like how, how can I hit very, very close to home?”

Stefanie Bautista 24:06
Like they’re mutants?

Ariel Landrum 24:07
Yes they’re mutants.

Stefanie Bautista 24:07
That’s cool.

Ariel Landrum 24:09
I need Professor Xavier.

Stefanie Bautista 24:12
Which is the grandma.

Josué Cardona 24:14
All Disney movies after Frozen are also just super everybody’s got superpowers. That’s, uh, yeah, yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 24:21
I Moana didn’t think she did. But I mean, she did.

Josué Cardona 24:24
Yeah, technically. She’s. Yeah, the bad guy. I don’t know. Huh? Yeah, the more I’ve watched the movie. I guess I’ve watched it three times now. And it’s like an M Night Shyamalan movie. I didn’t realize what was really happening. Now I see other things.

Stefanie Bautista 24:41
That’s funny. I mean, I think even watching it at home, and I live at home with my family. And you know, we’re multi generational family living in here. It was too real. So I was like wait, “These are feelings that I feel on a daily basis, this generational trauma.” So I had to like, I remember because I was watching it you know, it’s it’s bright in there, it’s not like you know, you can hide your emotions because it’s dark. Like we’re just watching it me my husband, my brother, and you know, my son running around with parents are like in the kitchen. And I’m just like, shielding myself. “Let me just wipe this tear real quick. I mean, go the bathroom, but you can keep watching.”

Josué Cardona 25:18
So how do you how do you both define the generational trauma like? Like, how would you which generational trauma do you see in the movie as the kind of the obstacle or the, the, the negative thing in the movie?

Ariel Landrum 25:32
For me, I do see it starting with Abuela’s experience. I don’t want to say starting with Abuela, and simply because I think that she obviously suffered great grief and loss, she had to be a single mother to triplets which, like single mother one would already be difficult. But I think it was the displacement, the colonization, I, they showed it very subtly, in the very beginning, when she’s telling the story of their of their miracle, and then you see it more in depth later on. But I think that if I were to look at it from my white side, I wouldn’t see that. I would think the generational trauma is that Abuela is kind of like really mean. That’s, that’s I would just paint it as this like, basic thing. When I’m looking at it from my Filipino side, and that lens, I see that displacement and colonization being so huge, because literally having to start from the ground up of building a community and a family and creating support networks. And it being really all on her to support the family. I and and literally her I don’t know, power of like she built walls. Technically, she like she built mountains. And she built walls, that desire to protect constantly. I think that is where the generational trauma started, because that over need to protect didn’t allow everyone else their individuality and the way that they probably could have embraced it.

Josué Cardona 27:04
Yeah. Is it has it, like been confirmed, or in any of the shorts or anything like that, that what they experienced was like that the people that were attacking the town, like who they were, or what was happening? Because the movie itself doesn’t say…

Ariel Landrum 27:19
Yeah, I haven’t seen anyone actually confirm that. I would say that I I’m just seeing it from that lens. And I think just because it’s placed in Colombia, and I’m thinking of the history of that community, it would just make sense. Even if the invaders were not colonizers, and essentially this was potential civil war, civil unrest or neighboring town taking over this town Abuela is still displaced a minimum, a refugee.

Josué Cardona 27:51
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Colombia. I mean, a lot of countries do. And and I’m not super familiar with the history of Colombia, and I don’t know, when sort of this takes place. But yeah, the the impression I got was that there’s just, there’s just bad people. Right? It’s like, we’re, we’re escaping violence, which, like today, so many people are displaced, because they’re there. And so many people enter the United States, right through that they try to cross the border, because they’re escaping different types of violence, whether it’s from the government or whether it’s from, you know, other either criminal activity or other things that people are leaving, because they’re trying to find a, a better place for their family is a place where, where they they can feel safe. And so they had to leave, because like, we do see violence at the very least, right? It’s not, it’s not, um, I think it’s up for interpretation. It can definitely, and colonization can obviously be very violent, but it seemed like just people coming in and, and they literally killed the Abuelo. Right. So So there’s, and they’re burning down houses. No, but I like that the movie doesn’t confirm either way. Because again, you can you can read it in a few different ways.

Ariel Landrum 29:07
Really, interestingly, I was also looking for other individuals in the town that were Abuela’s his age. And I wasn’t seeing that a lot.

Stefanie Bautista 29:19
They seem slightly younger, but not as young as her children. Maybe like a little bit older. So that’s interesting.

Josué Cardona 29:29
Yeah, because we saw Mariano’s mom, but we didn’t see Mariano’s grandmother or grandfather. That’s true.

Ariel Landrum 29:35
Yeah. I think that like her being a matriarch for the town, is that added pressure? And because I was in that, in this, my rewatches I was trying to find like, maybe there are these other people that are like, Abuela’s crew, you know, like the elders of the town. And I was not seeing.

Stefanie Bautista 29:52
Oh, no, she is the elder of the she is the crew. She is the crew. And I think that’s part of the loneliness of, you know, migrating? For me, I saw a lot of, you know, my grandma, I mean, my grandparents who migrated here. They’re not all here anymore. So I could only imagine what they went through. And we as third generation, I guess, don’t hear about those stories. And so it was very relatable. Watching all of the grandchildren, all of the kids even not having that story in their head to go off of and that’s, you know, maybe something that they can identify with Abuela. But she kept it locked in, because it was so traumatizing for her that she just did not want to revisit that. And I mean, even personally, for me, I didn’t hear about our migration story until I was a full grown adult. And I had to pry and ask, because they just, it’s, it’s just not something that they want to talk about, it makes, makes total sense. And, you know, seeing that, they had to start a new life in a whole new place. They just wanted to protect what they could control, which was essentially, how we took school, how we picked our careers, and all of that was kind of already laid out for us, because they knew it was a sure shot, you’re going to make money doing this, you’re going to you know, have a stable job. But if there was any deviation from that, it was kind of like, “I don’t know, and are you really part of this family? Or are you even really thinking of, you know, what, how, how much difficulty it took for us to get here and to establish a life here.” So there were many, many layers, as I was thinking about, and these thoughts didn’t come to me until like almost the end of the movie. Especially when they flashback to what actually happened on the river. Like, that’s when it was like, boom, it hit full force. And I was like, “Wow, there’s there’s a lot happening in, you know, Abuela’s experience. And up until then, you’re talking about Mirabel. And we’ve been calling her MaryBelle Mirabel’s experience, and how she you know, you see her as the full protagonist, like, you know, “Why doesn’t she have her power? Why isn’t she you know, she’s special too. And, you know, look at all these amazing things that she’s doing. She’s supporting the family, keeping them together.” And you almost antagonize Abuela, because she keeps being that’s her roadblock. But then once that breaks, you’re just like, “Oh, wow. There’s so much more that she doesn’t even see. And it’s not even having to do with whether she has a power or not. It’s really about you know, what role she brings individually to the family.”

Ariel Landrum 32:44
even when you’re talking about those loss stories and narratives. When I think of this story and how it aligns with a lot of my clients who are a second or third generation. They talk about whole families, they don’t know. And we don’t know Abuelo’s family. Mirabella doesn’t know if she has other cousins on that side. Other aunts and uncles, it was this this huge cut off that’s probably never never going to be healed or reconciled. That unspoken questioning, like, like, we don’t talk about Bruno, right. Like there’s, there’s those family members who it’s like, in some cases, I don’t even know if they exist. That’s how that’s how much sacrifice my family’s had to make, especially when I think of my clients who are refugees, specifically, like my Cambodian clients. They just whole sides that they can’t ask their parents or their grandparents about because they were like the discipline, we made the sacrifice to survive. We also essentially have to say, “I’m not going to think or talk about them, because if I do, I would be in too much grief, I wouldn’t be able to move on in my life, I have to pretend that that part of my life never happened.”

Stefanie Bautista 33:51
As if they were responsible.

Ariel Landrum 33:52
Mm hmm.

Josué Cardona 33:53
So that the scene at the end Abuela says, “I’ve never come.. I’ve never been here since.” Right. I mean, they literally she hasn’t been to this location, but like, metaphorically, right? It’s like, “I don’t I don’t talk about this. I don’t think about this. I don’t come back here.” And but she she had literally built a mountain between the town and where that happens. So she didn’t right that she didn’t want to revisit that. The power of denial. So like, there’s this literal piece of like, “Oh, I haven’t actually been here.” And then again, like whenever you watch a movie, right, it’s two hours, we can make a lot of assumptions about what what they do or haven’t talked about over the years at the dinner table. But But Mirabel, it says, “Now I see I had no idea like, I didn’t know this story.” You know, and she had never seen that place right when she when they see that that moment in Bruno’s vision. It’s like, “Where is that? It’s like, nobody knows where that is. No one’s ever seen it except Abuela.

Stefanie Bautista 34:58
No one’s ever been there. Yeah. They’ve never been outside of the, you know, the community.

Josué Cardona 35:04
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So so like everything you’re saying, right, like they showcase that literally. They actually, they actually play with those ideas at the end. “This isn’t something that we talk about.”

Stefanie Bautista 35:18
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 35:19
“Or would visit.” Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 35:20
Everybody has that one family member that they don’t like talking about. And that was super relatable. I feel there’s I mean, there’s so many stories like what as as a child, and I think looking at it as a child’s perspective, like watching it, you’re just like, “Yes. I have lots of family members, they’re in and around, I see most of them sometimes.” I mean, even now, I feel like posts are, during this pandemic, you’re seeing less and less of these people, you know, you’re not, especially if you’re from another country, you’re not traveling back to see and connect with these people. So as far as you know, they could be fairytales. So if you, you know, ask, there’s only so much information that’s going to be divulged to you. Because, you know, not everybody goes through their family tree like that. And I even see it we do a family tree activity in I think it’s first or second grade. And we have to give them at least a month, because they can’t, they can’t fill as much as possible, because some of the information isn’t there, especially for my students who you know, migrated here, or my students who, you know, families migrated here, they have to do some digging, being able to identify that. As a kid, you’re just like, :oh, wow, do I have other cousins? Do I have other family? What? Who are these people? How do I connect to them?” And then you open a Pandora’s box, and then all of a sudden, they just want to know everything about their families.

Josué Cardona 36:48
Yeah, the way they show that, you know that that song with Bruno and like, the version, and everybody’s mind that story that everybody tells, and then when you meet him, he’s so different from that. And he’s giving you his perspective on things. He really does that a little bit when he’s talking to Mirabel. And then at the end in the song, right? He’s like, he comes right out. Because in the, in the wanna talk about Bruno song, they talk about how he ruined the wedding.

Ariel Landrum 37:14
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 37:14
And immediately when he gets his part to sing at the end, he’s like, let me set the record straight. It’s like, I this is what I was saying, like, I love you. I just like, it wasn’t even a vision. Right? But everything I say, you know, I’m always everything I do is wrong. So it doesn’t matter what I do, it’s interpreted incorrectly, even when he shows Mirabel the vision. And she’s like, interpret it interprets it a certain way. And he’s like, Oh, every time.

Stefanie Bautista 37:44
Here we go again.

Ariel Landrum 37:45
It happened again.

Stefanie Bautista 37:47
This is why send the rats out. I don’t want to deal with your people.

Ariel Landrum 37:50
Well, and looking at like family systems and roles, Bruno could be or is identified, essentially, as the first black sheep of the family.

Stefanie Bautista 37:58
Yeah, I mean, so much so that he is so desperately trying to connect through even the cracks of his room. And the food, which is such an essential part of family and gathering him just reaching out through that wall and getting scraps like that was, oh my gosh, my heart. Like…

Josué Cardona 38:19
Yeah, yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 38:20
I get that. It’s, it’s like not being invited to the family party, and just getting scraps from whoever reaches out to you. Like, that’s, that’s a real thing.

Josué Cardona 38:31
Yeah, he says my gift wasn’t helpful for the family, to the family. So like, like, I was a burden, kind of right. Or my gift was a burden.

Stefanie Bautista 38:41
I mean, that can mean so many things. It could be you know, your, your values, your beliefs, the way you know, you choose to identify yourself, it could be the career choices you make. There’s so many different ways to connect and interpret that into, you know, everyday lives of navigating around family, community and connection really, between blood relatives.

Ariel Landrum 39:01
I also think when like, again, that family systems, the person Bruno was protecting was Mirabel and she is the new generation black sheep. The difference is that he he left when he was ostracized and then chose to leave now when we come to find out he living in the walls. She’s the one who stays and tries her best to conform to the family tried try to find a place to to be useful to try and be appreciated, understood. She’s really working hard and I think that that makes her a very different black sheep because she gets the pain in person of just the regular rejection she I almost picture her as like the kid that while you didn’t get the lead in the play, you were only the tree so that’s not something to celebrate. Not the fact that you went out and did something fun for yourself or that you stepped out of your comfort zone and like joined the theater group is the fact that you didn’t show that you were the best.

Josué Cardona 40:05
Yeah, yeah.

Ariel Landrum 40:07
Yeah. Even when we’re thinking about Bruno being able to see the future, that makes me think of someone who’s just an insightful in a family that sees the way things are interconnected, and it’s like “You spoke about it. That’s why you’re being ostracized. That’s why you’re the you’re the black sheep, you highlighted stuff that we all, you know, agreed was going to not be highlighted in the way that you presented it. You were you were too honest.”

Stefanie Bautista 40:37
He was just checking facts.

Josué Cardona 40:39
Yep.

Stefanie Bautista 40:39
He was just speaking facts. And they were like, no, no, no, we don’t like that fact.

Josué Cardona 40:43
Yeah, I think that’s my, or the other one that resonates the most with me like that, that version of it, right? Like that metaphor of like, you need to shut up, man. Like, you got to stop saying, You got to stop spitting facts. You cannot tell people how it is. You need to choose your delivery. It’s like, like, it’s what I do. Like, I just like, I’m I got an opposite version of that would be like, oh, you know, he’s a town Oracle. And he helps us, you know, by foreseeing the future and helping us prepare for the things that are coming, but instead everybody’s like, “Ah, this asshole he told me I’m gonna get fatter, I’m gonna lose my hair and look.”

Ariel Landrum 41:23
“He killed my goldfish.

Josué Cardona 41:25
Yeah. Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 41:26
He just said it, and it happened.

Stefanie Bautista 41:28
Yeah it happened.

Ariel Landrum 41:28
It wasn’t the fact that I wasn’t feeding the goldfish.

Josué Cardona 41:32
Or like, Oh, my goldfish is gonna die then like the me. Let me enjoy this time with it. Right. And like, let me prepare for it. Nobody saw it that way.

Yeah.

I think I mean, every power we can go through, like how each of them was

Ariel Landrum 41:48
A blessing and a curse.

Stefanie Bautista 41:49
blessing and a curse.

Josué Cardona 41:50
Yeah, it’s like gifts in in, in, in quotations. Right?

Ariel Landrum 41:56
Well, do we want to go through everyone’s powers? Or do we want to talk about their doors? Or do we want to talk about their clothes? Because I’m gonna tell you, my my art therapy, symbolism, all the colors, like it’d be coming out. So

Josué Cardona 42:11
I’m following your lead.

Stefanie Bautista 42:12
I mean, I think we can shift to visually how beautiful this movie was. And I think celebrating color, and how they played with color and shadow and light and making Bruno look super drab, spoke to our visual appetite of you know what we expect from not only a Disney movie, but a Disney CGI movie?

Ariel Landrum 42:36
So if you look at Bruno’s..Yeah, well, if you look at his outfit..

Stefanie Bautista 42:41
His rags poor guy…

Ariel Landrum 42:42
His rags.. For anybody goes to the Disney parks that Disney Imagineers created two colors to hide objects in plain sight that they do not like. And one of them is called Go Away Green. And that is the color of his outfit. And if you look at the movie posters, he is in plain sight. He’s in the background next to all the green objects. And like to me that we don’t talk about Bruno, but he’s been here the whole time. And we actually do talk about him. It’s just an whispers and away from Abuela. That Go Away Green was just like so in your face of like how we treat this character.

Josué Cardona 43:16
That’s so cool.

Stefanie Bautista 43:17
You see him in the shadows, but only on the second like watch. You’re like, Oh there he is!

Ariel Landrum 43:21
He’s in the song when Dolores is singing and she’s doing the hip and boom there he is.

Josué Cardona 43:30
I’ll watch it again.

Stefanie Bautista 43:34
Go Away Green. That’s hilarious.

Josué Cardona 43:36
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 43:36
The other thing with the colors is that Pepa, so how you can tell who’s related to who is Pepa’s side of the families wearing warm tones, and Julieta’s side of the family is wearing cool tones. And the interesting thing is that Abuela’s a purple. So sort of like a mix of warm and cool. And that Go Away Green is actually you know, getting more towards the cool side. And that’s also where the person who’s the new generation black sheep is. So it also shows you somewhat of how the family is split.

Josué Cardona 44:07
Yeah, yes. Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 44:09
Mirabel expresses a lot of those purple tones, which implies that she draws from everyone, both sides. You can see a little bit of everybody’s color in her skirt, the flowers on her shirt, and the fact that it’s white.

Ariel Landrum 44:23
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 44:24
That says a lot because her shirt is white. It’s white and black. And, you know, it makes all of the other colors standout which says a lot about her role in the family.

Ariel Landrum 44:34
Yes, yes, that she essentially highlights everyone’s powers and celebrates them. And the other interesting thing is the patterns on everyone’s outfits. So Abuela has butterflies and so does Mirabel. Sort of alluding to that moment in the future and alluding to how connected they are to the the miracle or the magic or the encanto and how they each celebrating their family members, gifts but very differently because Abuela was essentially saying you have to use the gift in this very specific way. And Mirabel saying like, no, it’s your gift, celebrate it how you know would be beneficial for you and you know, it doesn’t have to be a burden.

Stefanie Bautista 45:20
Mm hmm.

Josué Cardona 45:21
Butterflies everywhere.

Stefanie Bautista 45:22
Butterflies everywhere.

Butterflies in the sky. Let’s see. Okay, other outfits. Okay. Julieta has a mortar and pestle and hearts. And she is the person who heals…

Josué Cardona 45:34
Through cooking…

Ariel Landrum 45:35
Through cooking to the cooking and a mortar pestle can be used for for medicine and it can be used for food. Like that’s that’s the interesting thing about it. And I think the hearts are important because she tells Mirabel that she healed her with her love.

Stefanie Bautista 45:49
Yeah. My love healed you.

Ariel Landrum 45:52
My love healed you.

Stefanie Bautista 45:53
What a mom thing to say.

Ariel Landrum 45:56
Pepa has the sun earrings and the sun dress. So you know whether. Bruno has hour glasses, like for time. Dolores has soundwaves on her collar. Isabella obviously has flowers almost everywhere. Luisa has dumbbells at the bottom of her skirt.

Stefanie Bautista 46:14
She does.

Ariel Landrum 46:15
Camilo has chameleons on his outfit, and I think his name even means chameleon.

Stefanie Bautista 46:19
Oh!

Josué Cardona 46:23
Wow!

Stefanie Bautista 46:24
I missed that. It looks pretty plain to me.

Josué Cardona 46:26
Well, I mean, he’s always like shape shifting. Right?

Ariel Landrum 46:28
He’s always shape shifting.

Josué Cardona 46:29
Yeah, yeah.

Ariel Landrum 46:30
And then Antonio at first had doesn’t have anything. And then when he gets his door, he changes his outfit, and it has animals on it.

Stefanie Bautista 46:38
Cute.

Josué Cardona 46:38
And then very interesting. Lee, Julio says husband, Augustine, who is like very protective of Mirabel. His outfit has a piece for each daughter. So he’s got a flower in his pocket. And then his socks, one sock has dumbbells, the other one has embroidery.

Stefanie Bautista 46:56
Oh, I need to I need to zoom in on these details.

Ariel Landrum 47:02
The other thing that I thought was really interesting with the doors is that everyone’s door picture, their doors of them as an adult, except Antonio, he’s the only one who has a kid. And that to me really represents like the generational curse being broken, because he’s the one who got to grow up with his power and choose like, how it benefit for him. Whereas everybody else when there’s going to be broken was when they were adults. And it’s like, this is how far your power is going to go.

Stefanie Bautista 47:31
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 47:31
And and then there’s kind of like this endpoint of like, there, it’s just going to be up to the family if they decide to continue to flourish. Or if that’s it. They all take a picture with Abuela in front of their door, and they’re all little kids in front of their door but their doors an adult.

Josué Cardona 47:49
I don’t know what photos like the photos that you’re referring to.

Ariel Landrum 47:53
There, they’re actually on the wall.

Josué Cardona 47:55
So is there a photo that shows them as children in the photo, but their adult version on the door?

Ariel Landrum 48:01
Yes.

Josué Cardona 48:02
Ah…

Ariel Landrum 48:03
Yes, yes.

Josué Cardona 48:04
Okay. Okay. Okay.

Ariel Landrum 48:05
So it’s taken right when they got their powers.

Josué Cardona 48:08
That’s a hell of an attention to detail if that if that.

Ariel Landrum 48:12
This is one screen grab. This is the first one that I could find and see how they’re their doors are all taller than them. But with a Antonio, he’s about the same size.

Stefanie Bautista 48:20
There’s Dolores, and her hair is big. I like how Bruno’s looks super scary….

Ariel Landrum 48:28
Right?

Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 48:32
I know that there’s been a lot of like Easter eggs that people have been seeing. I haven’t quite looked at all of them. But it seems like there’s much more to discover, aside from seeing Bruno creep in the back during the songs because, like we mentioned earlier in the podcast, there was just a lot happening. And a lot of that continues to happen through the story. Because there’s a lot of people that you’re keeping track of, there’s a lot of stories you’re keeping track of there’s a lot, there’s just a lot you’re you’re processing at the moment. So it would be easy for them to embed something, especially within the house because the house itself, it’s it’s, it’s its own character.

Ariel Landrum 49:12
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 49:12
It represents the family. So and it’s alive. So, I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a lot of things that either foreshadowed or explained.

Josué Cardona 49:23
The symbolism is is all over the place. Right? And in some ways, like referring to the clothes, it’s like in your face. If you watch the movie in English, the scene where with the flashback at the river, it plays Dos Oruguitas in Spanish. And then I’m assuming when you saw it at theatres Ariel there were no subtitles for the song.

Ariel Landrum 49:45
No, None None. It was just playing in Spanish so that I mean, I got the feeling for what was being presented. It was really emotional.

Josué Cardona 49:55
So so if you watch if you watch To the end, then he plays the English version of the song of the Dos Oruguitas during the credits.

Ariel Landrum 50:05
Oh credits. Oh okay.

Josué Cardona 50:06
Yeah yeah. And then if you listen to the actual lyrics, like if, if the song if Dos Oruguitas was translated during that scene, it would, it literally explained some things, that it’s very literal the song in English, it’s way more subtle in Spanish. But this, the very literal version kind of explains a bunch of stuff. And when I, when I saw it again, so many things jumped out, like, sure we talked about like the butterflies in the clothing. The song is Dos Oruguitas, two caterpillars, just like the song is all about to butterflies, and Abuela and Mirabel are the butter, like I’ve gone through different interpretations of the song, but when you rewatch it, they just put the subtitles on for the song as it’s going. And you’re like, oh, and it’s and that’s actually, I mean, the way I’ve interpreted this is that the song goes into, it’s actually two stories. There. It’s a Abeula’s story with with Pedro. And then Abeula’s story with Mirabel, and and it’s like, oh, you know, like, we’re in love, you know, blah, blah, blah. But then the point is when something changed, like we were trying to avoid anything changing, right? Like we talked about the generational trauma. And then once things changed as a caterpillar, I created a cocoon.

Stefanie Bautista 51:21
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 51:22
Oh, interesting that hardshell.

Josué Cardona 51:25
Exactly. Once you go through, you’re like, Oh, she made a cocoon around the town around herself for every single one of her children. Right. And then as you keep listening to the song, and then you see it again, like now I can’t unsee it, but it’s like, in the song at the end. It’s like, oh, now we’re talking about this butterfly who breaks cocoons open and sets people free. And like the yellow butterfly is there at the beginning of that scene.

Ariel Landrum 51:55
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 51:55
In front of Pedro, right, like in the scene when when when Abuela meets him. And then it appears again, for Mirabel right it’s like it’s like it’s it’s a well as story in two parts with two different people like he tried to hold on so hard to the first one. And then the second person who came along is the one who’s breaking all the cocoons and like if you look at that, at the again, we’re talking about this visual storytelling that’s almost separate. There’s something going on there right like it’s it’s almost like the more I The more I think about the movie, the more I realize that everybody thinks that they’re doing one thing like everybody’s just misinterpreting their own ability and misusing it. So yeah, Abuela I wants to protect, but she’s gone beyond protecting. Now she she doesn’t, it is what the song is all about, like the song telegraph’s the whole story. Oh, okay, I’m protecting. But now I don’t want to let go. And the song is all about like, you have to let go. Like, that’s part of the process little caterpillar. Never. Like that’s the miracle. The miracle is like you growing. And so there’s this visual and I think this is why I think that actually Mirabel does have a power and like I can go into all that because visually, the cracks always stem literally from where she is. And there’s like even when she goes to Bruno’s cave like, and she like stomps on the ground. She like she she breaks the floor, like and she and whenever she meets with any of our sisters, or cousins, she she makes everybody she basically takes down the barriers. Right? Like she’s like, Luia, do you want to talk? She’s like, No, boom, she she burst into song.

Ariel Landrum 53:34
A friggin awesome song.

Josué Cardona 53:35
With Pepa she’s like, you know, but Bruno. She’s like, we don’t talk about Bruno. But on my wedding day, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, right? When she’s talking to Isabela. She’s right. She’s literally her like hypeman in the background, right? She’s in the sun. She’s like, Yeah, grow, grow, Rise, Rise as she’s doing this thing. She’s so taking everybody. She’s breaking down all these barriers. And basically like, the more I’ve again, I’ve obsessively listened to Dos Oruguitas of you that today listen to it twice simultaneously by accident, because I sound alarm with it. And I was listening to it separately on my phone, and it was playing twice. Pretty funny.

Stefanie Bautista 54:12
So it was echoing itself.

Josué Cardona 54:17
So there’s this, like this visual pattern throughout the movie from the very beginning, where it’s almost like what she’s doing is what Mirabel is able to do is always take down these barriers or like, destroy the cocoon. So like, I think that the the doors the rooms are Abuela’s way to create another cocoon for them and protect them as much as possible. Like, what if I made your perfect room?

Stefanie Bautista 54:47
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 54:47
Right. You’ll be the safest place I can possibly make for you is like is like the room of your dreams. And she creates this for each of them. And then but Mirabel’s power is the opposite of that right? It’s like not to create because it’s to unite everybody so she touches the door and it just disappeared. It’s like nope, that’s why I think that at the end when the door when she when she touches the door, it creates a new door with everybody on it, including the family members who don’t have powers. And then when you go back into the house, the new the newly modified House…

Stefanie Bautista 55:23
New casita!

Josué Cardona 55:24
Yeah, all the doors are have disappeared, like they’re not there anymore. They’re just blank. They’re just like, they’re, they’re like portals. They don’t actually have the doors on them anymore. Because she’s like, she’s broken the the chrysalis I think she’s like, broken all the cocoons, even in the vision, when you turn it, it’s almost like the the cracks are sprouting out of her. They almost look like wings in a way, right? But it’s like she’s she’s literally breaking all the cocoons all of this stuff. And again, you could you could translate to like, she’s breaking the barrier of talking about the trauma, she’s..

Stefanie Bautista 55:56
She’s breaking the barriers of secrets.

Josué Cardona 55:59
Now, it’s, it’s almost frustrating. I go through the movie, and I see, I see all of those things, and we see all of that symbolism. And then you see that the family doesn’t see it. Right. Like the family is completely, they’re always missing the mark, like, like, we had that whole conversation about Bruno just now, like, everything he could have been so helpful to you had you just reframed your thinking.

Stefanie Bautista 56:21
And now that as we’re talking about this, I’m like, yeah, what comes out of a cocoon must, it will. And you’ll never know, it’ll, it might be much more beautiful than what you were trying to protect. And I think that’s what Mirabel was, you know, trying to convey, even though she didn’t know it herself. Because what comes out of cocoon sometimes is unpredictable, it may look one way and may look another, but it has to go through that transformation. I think that’s what happens between generations. Families transform and change. They don’t always look like the generation previous the one right before, they’re all different. And you know, it goes with the evolving of relationships, how we view them, how we see them, how we connect with generations before us, given what we have to deal with in present day.

Josué Cardona 57:11
Again Dos Oruguitas it mentions a world changing and turning always and you don’t want anything to change. So you’ve created this cocoon. And you know, I didn’t even I hadn’t even thought about like the outside world until the right now in that movie, but yeah, I mean, that’s, that’s kind of that’s another metaphor right there. Like if you if you close yourself off from the world that you stop, you stop learning. I think in the English version of the song, I don’t think it says this in the Spanish word and the English version of Dos Oruguitas as it goes. Our Two Oruguitas is what it’s it’s called in English. If you check the soundtrack, it talks about like, where every day we’re loving and learning. Right, like, yeah, and then but once we close ourselves off, we stopped learning.

Ariel Landrum 58:01
Hmm.

Stefanie Bautista 58:02
Hmm.

Ariel Landrum 58:04
I’m curious. Did they actually say the name of the town?

Josué Cardona 58:08
I don’t think so. No.

Ariel Landrum 58:10
Like it’s just Abuela’s hood. Like we like…

Stefanie Bautista 58:12
I don’t think so no.

Josué Cardona 58:14
So I looked up I Abeula’s name earlier today, and I couldn’t remember that they mentioned that in the movie.

Stefanie Bautista 58:18
Oh yeah what’s her name?

Josué Cardona 58:18
But her name is? Her name is Alma.

Ariel Landrum 58:21
Oh, oh, boy. Alma. Okay. Yeah, yeah, I remember hearing that.

Stefanie Bautista 58:26
I’ve got it Abuela Alma. I do. That’s funny.

Ariel Landrum 58:33
Well, before we end today, I do want to mention I made arepas con queso last night. Friggin amazing. Now I’ve never had it authentically. So I’m gonna say it tasted good from what I was able to put together from watching three different TikToks and Binging with Babish.

Stefanie Bautista 58:55
They looked good on your Instagram stories.

Ariel Landrum 58:58
Thank you!

Stefanie Bautista 58:58
They looked good.

Ariel Landrum 58:59
I use mozzarella and oaxaca cheese. What I found out is it needs to be a low moisture, cheese, whatever you put in there.

Stefanie Bautista 59:07
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 59:08
So…

Josué Cardona 59:08
It’s gotta it’s gotta be like stringy kinda but like, yeah, yeah..

Stefanie Bautista 59:12
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 59:12
So I’ve I’ve had them in street fairs and stuff. And the stands always though is called a mozzarepas, like mozzarella arepas. Right?

Ariel Landrum 59:21
That’s what Binging with Babish called it. Okay.

Josué Cardona 59:24
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ariel Landrum 59:25
There used to be a food truck that would go to my old apartment complex every Thursday. And they only made arepas, and it was so good. And it was I look forward to every Thursday, just like any more of this in my life. So every time there’s like an arepas stand at like, a street fair, or like, a pop up, I’m like, oh my god, let’s go. Because there’s so few and far in between here. I mean, even in LA, which you could probably find any sort of cuisine out here. You got to seek them out. So, you know, I don’t remember the name of that truck, but they were doing the Lord’s work.

I had a lot of people saying that like arepas looked exactly like pupusas and so the difference is that pupusas are filled before you cook them and arepas and gorditas are stuffed after you cook them. And then pupusas and gorditas they’re made with instant corn mesa and arepas are made with pre cooked corn mill called masarepa. So. So if you make it here, you’re probably going to find instant corn mesa. So it’s probably it’s gonna taste more like a pupusas. But if you have access to masarepa, then you’d be chef’s cheese good to go.

Stefanie Bautista 1:00:32
I mean, that’s a difference between storebought tortillas and you know, hechas a mano. Right. So different.

Josué Cardona 1:00:39
They look good in the movie. Disney you did good. Those arepas look good.

Stefanie Bautista 1:00:42
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 1:00:43
Well, if you want to give us your thoughts on Encanto, your theories, anything that you discovered, please tweet at us @HappiestPodGT or DM us on Instagram @HappiestPodGT. We would love to hear if you tried arepas.

Josué Cardona 1:01:03
As always, just you know, go to GeekTherapy.org Check out everything. We’re working on all different shows and projects that we’re cooking up. Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 1:01:12
Yeah. Thank you for coming.

Stefanie Bautista 1:01:13
Yes.

Josué Cardona 1:01:14
Thank you for inviting me. I want to talk about this movie all the time.

Stefanie Bautista 1:01:17
I know. Let’s do some more. Let’s do it. Thank you for listening. We will see you next time.

Ariel Landrum 1:01:23
Yes. Happy New Year, everybody!

Stefanie Bautista 1:01:25
Yeah Happy New Year!

Josué Cardona 1:01:25
Bye.

Media/Characters Mentioned
  • Encanto
  • Abuela Alma Madrigal
  • Mirabel Madrigal
  • Luisa Madrigal
  • Isabela Madrigal
  • Bruno Madrigal
  • Pepa Madrigal
  • Julieta Madrigal
  • Antonio Madrigal
  • Camilo Madrigal
  • Agutin Madrigal
  • Dolores Madrigal
  • Felix Madrigal
  • Moana
  • Frozen
  • Elsa
  • Beauty and the Beast
Topics/Themes Mentioned
  • Diversity
  • Family
  • Family roles
  • Family values
  • Black sheep
  • Generational trauma
  • Expectations
  • Secrets
  • Gifts
  • Mircales
  • Powers
  • Superpowers
  • Symbolism
  • Metaphors
  • Forshadowing
  • Color theory
  • Hues
  • Visual representation

Questions? Comments? Discuss this episode on the GT Forum.

—

 Website: happy.geektherapy.com
 | Instagram: @HappiestPodGT | Twitter: @HappiestPodGT | Facebook: @HappiestPodGT |
 | Stef on Twitter: @stefa_kneee | Ariel on Instagram: @airyell3000 |
 | Josué on Twitter: @JosueACardona

Geek Therapy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit with the mission of advocating for the effective and meaningful use of popular media in therapeutic, educational, and community practice.
| GT Facebook: @GeekTherapy | GT Twitter: @GeekTherapy |
| GT Forum: forum.geektherapy.com  | GT Discord: geektherapy.com/discord |

The Merriest Nite at Disneyland

December 3, 2021 · Discuss on the GT Forum

https://media.blubrry.com/happypod/media.transistor.fm/cb0ea912/5d89ba9a.mp3

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#25: Disneyland added a new night event over the holiday season, titled “Merriest Nites.” This special event featured six distinct parties that have unique music, food, and character interactions. Even the infamous Muppet did a holiday show filled with their classic antics. Host Stef attended with her family, sharing with Ariel the tips, tricks, ups, and downs of navigating such an ambitious event.

Read the blog post for this episode for additional references and resources.

Become a member of Geek Therapy on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/geektherapy

Transcription

Ariel Landrum 0:03
Hello everyone, welcome to The Happiest Pod On Earth. I am Ariel.

Stefanie Bautista 0:08
And I’m Stef, and we are Disney fans. But we are really so much more than that.

Ariel Landrum 0:12
Like I’m a licensed therapist who uses clients passions and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma and mental and wellness.

Stefanie Bautista 0:18
And I’m an educator who uses passions and fandoms to help my students grow and learn about themselves and the world around them. Here at Happiest Pod, it’s a place where we dissect Disney mediums with a critical lens.

Ariel Landrum 0:29
Why? Because just like we are more than just fans, we expect more from the mediums we consume. So what Disney medium or experience are we dissecting today’s Stef?

Stefanie Bautista 0:38
Well, it’s been a while. So we are going to dissect my experience at Marriest Nites’ Queue Jingle Bells.

Ariel Landrum 0:48
ding ding ding

Stefanie Bautista 0:49
Last time we spoke to you all it was spooky season and now it is holiday season. I feel like and I don’t know about you, Ariel, but the holiday season has come at us in full force.

Ariel Landrum 1:00
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 1:01
I’ll be earlier than previous years because I think people are really excited to just celebrate merriness and being together as much as possible. I don’t know. What do you think?

Ariel Landrum 1:13
Yes, I, I vividly remember Christmas last year for me because I spent it locked in my room because my roommate had COVID. And I was helping care for them. And of course, if I was potentially exposed, I didn’t want to obviously give it to any of my family members and usually spend Christmas with my grandmother who would be individual who’d be highly susceptible. And if everyone remembers the vaccine did not exist then. So these symptoms were bad for my roommate and the isolation was, was pretty, pretty difficult.

Stefanie Bautista 1:46
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 1:47
I didn’t even decorate. It did not feel like the holidays. I don’t I didn’t watch Christmas movies that whole month. I don’t remember doing any holiday traditions like even driving around and looking at lights. Like it, it was his full force pandemic. And I would say that was one of the bigger peaks. And so it was just a lot of isolating.

Stefanie Bautista 2:06
Yeah, I mean, for me, it was a lot of Christmas dinners were outside. And there were only two. The one at my house and the one at my in law’s house. And aside from that, I mean, there was no dressing up, there was no taking pictures, there was really not a lot of even gift giving. A lot of the gifts that we received were virtual gifts, or were just delivered via Amazon package. And so I mean, because the whole year we were getting packages, it didn’t seem any special. No special gift wrapping through Amazon, none of that. It just literally was like another delivery, more baby things. But yeah, I totally agree that this holiday season is just everybody’s getting like their holiday wiggles out. That’s very elementary school of me to say, but we’ve been holding it in for so long. And no matter if you celebrate, you know, Christmas or Kwanzaa, or Hanukkah, or any other holiday that you may celebrate during this time. Everybody’s just really excited to be out. And, you know, I’ll be it, we are in a sticky situation right now with the new variant. People are just really trying to make the most of it.

Ariel Landrum 3:15
Even in thinking about the holiday differences from last year to this year. We all know in general that Christmas has been trying to take over since July like right like if it wasn’t for Halloween, which holds the line the Goths hold the line.

Stefanie Bautista 3:30
They really do.

Ariel Landrum 3:31
Christmas would be way, way, way sooner.

Stefanie Bautista 3:34
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 3:35
I remember being irritated by that. I think this year I was I just I needed it. I really wanted it back I had this this sense of like, I I’m really looking forward to feeling like I’ve celebrated the entire year. Like I’ve done my like the whole circle around completion feeling and wanting to wanting to do a resolution want, you know, wanting and hoping and feeling that sense of wonderment again.

Stefanie Bautista 4:02
Yeah, we put up our Christmas lights so fast. Like I think we had half of our inflatables up the night of Thanksgiving which was wild. And I mean also like the kids like they at my school they were talking about you know holiday plans and like you know finally getting to see the grandparents and things like that so I think it wasn’t just you know, they wanted to you know, do those things like Christmas last Christmas traditions they were just really excited to connect again. And in by connecting you know, give gifts to their fellow classmates give gifts to their teachers. I have not seen my coworkers walk away with so many gifts in my life which thank you to everybody who you know you’re appreciating your educators because they are still working around the clock.

Ariel Landrum 4:51
Hmm hmm.

Stefanie Bautista 4:52
They are trying to accommodate and you know, catch up from the last year but it was like they were all their own mini Santos walking out of the building. Huge like bags on bags and like coffee mugs galore. Because ya’ll like to give educators coffee mugs. I got two. And they are living now in my office because I know better than to bring them home with me. Yeah, it does just the spirit all around. But in that we are going to talk about Merriest Nites, which is the Disneyland equivalent to Oogie Boogie Bash, which happens during Halloween. We went early. We went during December 11.

And by we will clarify this stuff. Yes. I have never been to Merriest Nites. I don’t even know what it is.

It’s new this year.

Ariel Landrum 5:36
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 5:36
Yeah, this is the first time they’re doing it.

Ariel Landrum 5:38
I have gone to Disneyland with STef in the winter around Christmas time. We do have some really bomb photos. I consider them bomb in front of the castle when it’s lit up. Snowy, pretty. But I myself have never gone to any sort of Disney holiday event. I haven’t done the Oogie Boogie bash. I haven’t done any of those things have done the food events. But that’s over at California Adventure.

Stefanie Bautista 6:02
Yes. And there’s a reason why you haven’t been to this one because it is new this year. And because I have never been to Ogee Boogie bash myself because I can never remember to get tickets, or I just missed the window or something. When I heard about Merriest Nites, I’m like, I need to get on this now. I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I’m gonna get my frickin ticket right now. Because I love me some Christmas. I love me some holiday. So when they announced the tickets, I think it had to be early November because it was right after Okay, Boogie bash, okay. They were like, oh, you know, if you love this, you’re gonna love this version of, you know, Oogie Boogie which is called Merriest Nites. And we’re gonna it’s a special ticketed event, which was very attractive to me. Because when I went to the food event before Disneyland opened up, I just loved how I could experience Disneyland with way less people. And I think now we’re in the state of mind where, unfortunately, we will spend any amount of money to feel safe. And I buy into that. I have a young one. And you know, for me myself. I my comfort level is not all the way there to you’re gonna find me at a music festival, which you probably won’t for a really long time. But this I knew Disney was gonna control their crowds just like the food event.

Ariel Landrum 6:02
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 6:24
So it’s like, okay, yeah, let’s do this. So they had tickets starting from the end of November, I think. Probably like last day of November, all the way until I think the end of December. Don’t quote me on that. I know all of the tickets are sold out now. But I attended. Oh, here we go. November 11 to December 9th. Okay. So people actually could celebrate Christmas holidays way, way early.

Ariel Landrum 7:47
Before Thanksgiving.

Stefanie Bautista 7:49
Yeah. I went November 18. So it was quite early.

Ariel Landrum 7:56
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 7:57
It was. It was quite early, because I knew I have blackout dates on my tickets for the holiday season. So the earlier the better for me. And yes, you had to wait for a certain time. When they opened the virtual queue. You had to wait in the queue. And…

Ariel Landrum 8:16
And you use the app and not the website?

Stefanie Bautista 8:18
You use the website? Not the app.

Ariel Landrum 8:20
Oh okay, so you were using the website. So you were at home or at work doing this?

Stefanie Bautista 8:24
I was at work doing this…

Ariel Landrum 8:27
On your lunch break obvi.

Stefanie Bautista 8:28
On my lunch break. I was eating, you know, whatever I was eating that that day. Um, yeah, I had my computer I had had my computer and I had my phone out. I know, some people had multiple computers out from some of the blogs that I’ve been reading, because they had a big group that they wanted to buy tickets for. I don’t remember if there was a limit to how many tickets you could get if any of our listeners out there remember if there was. I only have to buy two. So it wasn’t that big of a deal for me. But I know once when I got to the park, there were parties of 13 parties of 15

Ariel Landrum 9:02
Oh, wow…

Stefanie Bautista 9:04
Whole families that were you know, felt like Disney World. They were doing like a holiday event for themselves for you know, like a family reunion sort of thing. So I can imagine how difficult it was to get all of those tickets together. But tickets were available for still a couple weeks after they opened it up.

Ariel Landrum 9:21
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 9:22
So it wasn’t like Ogee Boogie where because it has like a track record already people snatched up those tickets and no matter of days. These tickets were available for about a month after they released them. And I bought my tickets later, I jumped in that queue the first time and I was just like, “It’s a little bit much. It’s out of my budget right now. I haven’t saved up too much.” And then once I saw that there were still tickets available. I was like, “Okay, let’s do this.” So I actually bought my ticketst wo weeks, no, one week after I had seen the event.

Ariel Landrum 9:53
Okay. Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 9:55
So for all of you out there, if they do this again, I can’t guarantee that that will happen again because I feel like it was such a success, but you may get lucky.

Ariel Landrum 10:04
So you get the tickets. And it sounds like you only needed it for you and your spouse. Do you know the age limit when you have to start buying tickets for your son?

Stefanie Bautista 10:15
Yes, it’s age three.

Ariel Landrum 10:18
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 10:19
So three is that magic? Ah,

Ariel Landrum 10:21
how they gonna know he’s three though? He little…

Stefanie Bautista 10:25
You know, developmentally, you just kind of can tell.

Ariel Landrum 10:31
It’s true. It’s true. And I guess there are a lot of kids at Disneyland, those they would know.

Stefanie Bautista 10:35
Yeah, let’s be real here. I know, all you parents out there listening to this blog, you’ve all done this. Because I know all my friends have done this. I’ve done this. You keep your kid in the stroller for as long as humanly possible. And you tell them to not say a word. Because once your kid starts going, “Well, I want to do this. I don’t want to make a pretzel and oh my gosh, we’re at Disneyland.” That’s a dead giveaway that you’re over three.

Ariel Landrum 11:01
Well, I think I think the other thing is if they ask, I can see a kid going “No, I’m four.”

Stefanie Bautista 11:07
Yeah. Because they are so excited to be that age. And you know, at that age, they are fully aware of where they are going, why they are going and what they are expecting. My son’s almost two so he still has no idea. He’s just like, I woke up and I’m here again at this place that my parents will clearly like to go to. The wonderment is there but the confusion is also there. I think once the confusion goes away, they’re like, Okay, maybe this is a little bit older. And we need to charge them for the the wonderment that is present in walking through the park.” So same thing for Merriest Nites. You a ticketed tickets are for three and above. And they were $165 per adult.

Ariel Landrum 11:55
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 11:56
And that includes Disney PhotoPass. You get goodies, which I will mention in a bit. You are you have like a wristband and everybody. Well, I guess I’ll explain that later. I’ll explain the whole like, way because the event was only from seven o’clock to midnight. But if you have a ticket to Merriest Nites, you can go in the park starting five o’clock.

Ariel Landrum 12:25
Okay, so you couldn’t go in the morning?

Stefanie Bautista 12:27
No.

Ariel Landrum 12:28
And it was only for one park.

Stefanie Bautista 12:30
Not California venture. So California venture was still open until 10. But Disneyland was open until midnight, like usual, but only to Merriest Nites ticketed holders.

Ariel Landrum 12:41
And this is pretty common because I think some people who do Oogie Boogie end up really buying like two tickets so you do the event but then they also want to go to the park in the morning.

Stefanie Bautista 12:51
Or if their annual pass holders they kind of double dip. So they get to stay in the park the whole day and then they get to experience it later on at night.

Ariel Landrum 12:59
Okay, okay.

Stefanie Bautista 13:00
Yeah. And I guess for all of you out there I have the official description of Merriest Nites for everyone and, you know, you want to hear exactly what it is. So official Disney description of it is, “As the host of the party Mickey Mouse will welcome you to the party on Main Street USA with Victorian flair and Kermit the Frog Miss Piggy and their friends join in the fun traveling in a special coach with Christmas carol sing alongs muppet antics and a few chickens. Over in New Orleans. New Orleans Square Princess Tiana plan to ring and Noel with guests at her Bayou inspired celebration. In Frontierland Miguel from the Disney and Pixar film Coco will be wishing everyone Feliz Navidad while you kick up your heels during a jolly dance filled fiesta. Three more character hosted holiday parties await you with a tropical party hosted by Lilo and Stitch in Adventurelang,” which got me. “A winter time celebration with Elsa in Fantasyland and Buzz Lightyear taking the holidays to new heights over in Tomorrowland. Your friends and family will enjoy enhanced entertainment such as the photo backdrops and character signings and specialty food and beverage offerings within the event.”

Ariel Landrum 14:09
So you have these different things going on. Do you hop around to them? Or are they timed?

Stefanie Bautista 14:15
Girl, you have to make your own schedule.

Ariel Landrum 14:19
Ah, no!

Stefanie Bautista 14:20
This is where at the end of the day my husband and I were walking back and we’re like “We need to come up with a game plan next time.”

Ariel Landrum 14:30
Ah okay, so that’s where my anxiety has already flared up trying to figure out what has to be axed off the list of this thing that I spent I paid extra money for.

Stefanie Bautista 14:44
And I think this is like the way me and Ariel work is I’ll try out the thing first and I’ll like you know, make the mistakes and stumble all that and then I like when we do that the next time I’m like, “Okay, I’m ready.” I compile like, “You know, this is what we got to do. This is what it is.” And then I create the experience after that for Ariel or whoever I go with. And that’s okay because you know I, I am a okay with the expectation that this is new. This is gonna to be something that I’ve never done before all be it it’s in a familiar place. I know Disneyland like the back of my hand, but for some reason because there were so many things to see I couldn’t navigate on where to go, how much time to spend. Add the layer of you know, I have a young one with me. It was very cold that night.

Ariel Landrum 15:29
Oh..

Stefanie Bautista 15:29
Colder then it was like the first really cold night of this winter and fall season. So we had to do a couple wardrobe changes. Like, I went into the mentality of, “Oh, there how PhotoPass for us, so let’s dress up.”

Ariel Landrum 15:46
Ah.

Stefanie Bautista 15:47
Yeah, there’s a thing about Dapper Day never being in the winter. And there’s a reason why.

Ariel Landrum 15:50
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 15:52
Because my hair just did not look the same as when I walked in the park. And, you know, you really had to dress up like winter and us being from Southern California. We are not 100% prepared for any outfit to be transformed into that.

Ariel Landrum 16:08
And then in NorCal they get hit with the snow so bad that there’s it’s not cute. I mean, you’re like the I would say anybody who’s ever thought that a snow bunny is like, kind of like a real look has never actually been cold. Or is like going to a ski resort with fake snow.

Stefanie Bautista 16:27
Yeah, or like never stepping out of the lodge I feel.

Ariel Landrum 16:31
Yeah. Because that would be me. I just stay by the fire and drink some hot cocoa and have fun furry boots.

Stefanie Bautista 16:36
I on the other hand, I was an avid snowboarder before and I never looked cute. Ever. Especially when you’re trying to do new things. You just you don’t look cute. You look like you’ve been on the slopes all day.

Ariel Landrum 16:51
Take that out of your mind.

Stefanie Bautista 16:53
Take that on your mind. It’s a Christmas party. But it’s six Christmas parties. And you have to go into the mentality if you go next time. It’s six different parties. I mean, party hopping between two parties is like difficult enough. Going from Disneyland to California Adventure, I feel like your party hopping at that point. There’s so many things happening in DCA. There’s so many things happening at Disneyland. But yes, they condense it to one park but it’s still like six unique experiences.

Ariel Landrum 17:23
And all over the park like I’m trying to map out like the walking route that is not easy.

Stefanie Bautista 17:28
It’s not a Star Wars Land Batuu to was closed. So they were cast members just standing there reminding people, “You can’t go in here anymore. Like we closed up that area.” Which was good because that if they ever do a Star Wars Christmas, I mean, it would be so freakin cool. But they have to open it up to like, not just seven o’clock. They have to start earlier. Because there’s no way you can experience all of that.

Ariel Landrum 17:59
Well was it busy?

Stefanie Bautista 18:01
Okay, so this is actually a really good question because at going to the parks, because I’ve never been to the parks. Like in the evening, it was actually quite bizarre. Because Daylight Savings had happened already. So it was already getting darker than normal. So we we left from work. Got my son ready. And then we headed over around for four o’clock like about an hour away.

Ariel Landrum 18:28
So wait, you had a whole workday too?

Stefanie Bautista 18:31
Oh, yeah. No, I want to work. No days off here.

Ariel Landrum 18:36
Had a whole work day, god dress did your hair got your kid ready?

Stefanie Bautista 18:42
Had a whole work day, got dressed, did my hair. Yep. Got my kid ready. Yeah, anything is possible when your mom or so you think and then and then it falls apart. But anyway, we had picked out our outfits already weeks in advance. We sort of planned out where we wanted to go. Like I knew I wanted to go to Adventureland because Lilo and Stitch had like a whole other holiday island party, which is you know, my favorite. And so yeah, we left. We actually left The Valley quite early. We left The Calley around like 330 ish to be able to get there on time. Because I knew my son’s his nap time. And you know, he would, you know, go through traffic because traffic at that point, it would take you no, less than an hour and 15 minutes to get to Anaheim. So we got there around 4:45. And we parked but I thought I thought parking was gonna be like “Oo we’re doing in the first level is gonna be great.” No, the park was full that day. So you’re battling people who have already been at the park, people who are currently leaving the park and the fact that not all of those lights that tell you what space is available are working. So I actually circled more times than I’ve ever circled before trying to find a close parking spot.

Ariel Landrum 20:07
Oh, were you irritated?

Stefanie Bautista 20:09
I was a little irritated because my husband had worked so he was sleeping also. I was the only one awake as I drove. And I like went around like I think like four or five times trying to find like a good parking spot. And I’m like, “You know what, forget it. I’m just going to pick the one that’s closest to the walkway that takes you from that one half of the parking to the other half. And that like is a straight shot to the elevators.” Because we had a stroller. We got everybody dressed, put my son shoes on and everything. He wore a little bow tie, I made sure that was on. He had like suspenders and I was like “Ooo it’s was gonna be cold.” So got him a jacket, got him another jacket and I got him a blanket. And so we’re off and you go downstairs. The trame still not working.

Ariel Landrum 20:56
Ah.

Stefanie Bautista 20:57
You had to walk the way the whole tramway. I hear it’s coming back next year.

Ariel Landrum 21:01
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 21:01
Fingers crossed. They could block every other one but just please, let’s use the tram. I’m done with this.

Ariel Landrum 21:08
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 21:09
I decided to wear flats that night because I’m not gonna walk that hallway.

Ariel Landrum 21:13
No.

Stefanie Bautista 21:14
I did it during Dapper Day and it was not the best experience. But so we’re walking the hallway I noticed everyone’s outfits. So some people are dressed dapper.

Ariel Landrum 21:27
Oh, Christmas Dapper.

Stefanie Bautista 21:29
Yeah. Some people are just Victorian. I saw long Victorian dresses. Um, some of them were Disneybounding as like Mickey and Minnie and their Victorian outfits. I saw a Ursula and Ariel a mom and a daughter. She had beautiful braided hair. Her mom had an Ursula like I think it was like Mickey ears, but like a tiny wig in the middle for and mom was dressed in like a black Victorian gown. And Ariel was dressed in a like a green one. It was very, very pretty. And some people were wearing onesies. So a lot of Christmas, onesies. Winnie the Pooh onesies, Stitch onesies. So it was all over the place, like people were dressed, just in straight up pajamas. And some were dressed like in winter clothing, like as if they were just going to Disneyland and it was cold, which is understandable. So you have the option to you know, be whoever you want to be at this event. It’s not like there’s a dress code or anything but whatever you feel comfortable to fill meery. That’s what people wore. And then so we got inside the to the gate, they separated the entrances, all the entrances on the left, were exits now, for people who are leaving the park and all the entrances on the right where it said that you had flipped the sign and it said “Special Event.” And so you had to show them your ticket, which you link to your Disneyland app.

Ariel Landrum 23:00
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 23:01
Or you can print out a ticket. And then once they scan it, they give you a physical ticket.

Ariel Landrum 23:06
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 23:06
They take your picture, or if you have a picture on hand they use that one. And then the chaos happened.

Ariel Landrum 23:12
Okay, so before we get to the chaos going in, as the park already decorated, like even in the middle area in between the two parks like and are you seeing any new decor than what you’ve seen before?

Stefanie Bautista 23:24
Yeah, so it was already Festival of Holidays at Disney’s California Adventure. So if you look to your right, it’s this Festival of Holidays. To the left everything is not pumpkins anymore, because last time I went it was Halloween. Everything is like snow themed. There’s snowflakes everywhere up on top and in the middle. I think the banners were holiday themed. I don’t remember, but nothing too special in the middle. It was still like open for everyone. But yeah, everything was very holiday looking.

Ariel Landrum 23:52
Because we haven’t really talked about the decor for holidays in general on Main Street. What what is the the big holiday decor for Halloween? And what is it for? For I guess you’d say the holidays?

Stefanie Bautista 24:04
Yeah, so for Halloween, it’s the big Mickey pumpkin in the middle on Main Street and everyone loves to take pictures with that. I I haven’t stood in that line to take a picture in front of that pumpking in so long because it’s so long. Yes. But now this time is the Christmas tree. Huge, huge, huge Christmas tree. I feel like they put way more lights on it or I just don’t remember because it’s been such a long time, but Main Street is decked out. And on top of that now not only do they have like holiday, like wreaths and things like that they now have projections on Main Street. So it’s as if it’s alive. And there’s people inside the buildings like you know, like serving each other cookies or like baking pie. It was very, very nice. And we got to sit a little bit on Main Street to kind of like soak everything in. But yeah, they do. They really amped up the decorations this year.

Ariel Landrum 24:56
And I think something that I definitely learned and remembered is that taking a picture with that pumpkin is very difficult because it’s a pumpkin and one face at least with a Christmas tree and because it’s 360, you kinda can just get any angle that’s good. And I feel like it goes by faster because other people don’t have to wait for the one spot that everybody takes.

Stefanie Bautista 25:15
Yeah, the tree is so massive that you can’t get the whole tree anyway, unless you step all the way, all the way which we ended up taking our Christmas tree picture from The Great Moments with Lincoln.

Ariel Landrum 25:26
Oh.

Stefanie Bautista 25:28
Because that actually has an I saw a lot of people doing a lot of influencers doing this. Because it’s dark and Great Moments when Lincoln has the best lighting, you could still see the tree in the back, you might see people, but if you angle it right, you’ll have the tree and the top of the tree. But you will have yourself in really good lighting. So protip if you want to take super good pictures of your outfit during Christmas at night, go to Great Moments with Lincoln because the lighting is great there.

Ariel Landrum 25:53
Yeah, yeah. Okay. That’s that’s really good. And PhotoPass, how many times were you able to use it? Or is it just the one spot?

Stefanie Bautista 26:02
Unlimited, you can use it as many times as you want. But it doesn’t start until seven where the actual events start. This is the one time I’ve never seen cast members like actually go, “Oh, no, you have a minute left. We’re not starting until seven.” Menus changed at seven. Like we saw them change. And I was only because we ended up stepping inside the restaurant at that time to get food because we got hungry around like 6:50. And yeah, some people were told we don’t have the holiday stuff yet, but we got lucky. And the guy was just like, “Here you go. It’s 6:59. But I don’t care.” And he sold it us.

Ariel Landrum 26:39
Nice. Thank you cast member.

Stefanie Bautista 26:43
Thank you cast member. You guys are awesome. And I am gonna shout out the cast members later because they they are true troopers during this event.

Ariel Landrum 26:51
Back to some chaos.

Stefanie Bautista 26:53
Back to the chaos. So when you go inside, they scan your ticket everything. Normally you have the option to just go to the front of Main Street Station, take a picture with the monkey flowers, or go to the right or go to the left. No, everyone had to go to the right. On top of that they had little tables with Christmas lights. And that was the first giveaway which was cute. They were Christmas lights I would show them to you but Arlo like took them apart and he’s been wearing them for like the last two weeks. They’re ike the light of Christmas like that you get a Disneyland big holiday bulbs. And at the bottom there’s a little card that says Merriest Nites. And then on the back of it it says, “This is one of the indicators that we use that you have purchased a ticket and our you know here for our special event, Merriest Nites. So please have it on you if you can.” And you know it was another cute decoration to have on you very much like a pin lanyard. And it lit up three different ways like blinked, that sparkled and you know it stayed on. So there’s that. However, you’re looking at like five lanes, maybe six lanes of people going in. And then this weird, cause you’re curving over to the right. I have a stroller. So I was telling when you get a wristband too. You get a wristband, so I was telling my husband, oh, go get mine. And I’ll wait for you at the end, which normally is like our go to plan. So the only one person has to go on to have to like lug the stroller around. We lost each other. And it’s I was tending not that far away. But there was so many people coming in and like you kind of just get pushed with the crowd.

Ariel Landrum 28:37
You’re like salmon.

Stefanie Bautista 28:39
Yeah, yeah, like exactly. And apparently you have to show them your wristband to get it. So I had to go back against the current. He was so pissed off. I had to go back against the current and get my lights because you needed that in order to make sure that people knew you were there. So and I wanted one because they were cute.

Ariel Landrum 29:00
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 29:01
So I brought Arlo with me because we end up getting three. But that was like really difficult. And then you couldn’t get any like moment of relief until you got to Greate Moments with Lincoln because the whole area was like people are waiting for their party people are trying to reunite with their party. People we’re looking at the stage on Main Street because the characters were like already there. And I don’t know if we mentioned this in a previous podcast, but Main Street Station at night is closed off for character appearances. So Mickey, Minnie, Goofy in their you know, whatever outfits they’re wearing, they’re all there. So yeah, it was kind of chaotic.

Ariel Landrum 29:39
And it sounds like congested.

Stefanie Bautista 29:41
Congested because of all the people who knew they could get in at five.

Ariel Landrum 29:45
Yeah that makes sense.

Stefanie Bautista 29:46
Yeah. By the time we were already walking into the park, it was like near six o’clock, like we we weren’t rushing to get down the tramway. We’re like “We’re gonna take our time we’re gonna be walking a lot.” And that’s something that I remember from last time because we rushed last time and then I was so tired so early. So we’re like, “Okay, it’s, it’s gonna be six o’clock anyway. So let’s just take it easy and like, let’s just figure this experience out.” But yeah, like apparently a lot of people were coming in at six trying to get that like last hour or whatever in. And then you see all the people who are already at the park. Now they’re soaking in all the lights, because you know, everything’s dark and pretty. People are taking pictures. And then we were gonna head down Main Street. The announcer guy comes on, it’s just like, “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re about to start our you know, holiday, or we’re going to get ready to light the castle.”

Ariel Landrum 30:44
Ah!

Stefanie Bautista 30:44
Ah snap. “So everyone, if you would like, please stay where you are until, like the lights come back on. And you know, we will have our, you know, lightning of the castle or whatever. So people stop, they stay put.

Ariel Landrum 30:58
Okay, they listened.

Stefanie Bautista 30:59
They did, but think about all the people coming in. And so…

Ariel Landrum 31:05
There’s no room for new people.

Stefanie Bautista 31:06
There was no room.

Ariel Landrum 31:08
Oh no! They made a blockade!

Stefanie Bautista 31:11
They made her own blockade. See, and now you’re seeing this and you’re just like, “Oh my gawd.” So we tried to like find refuge in like one of the nooks on Main Street like you know, because there you have the window displays and everything all down Main Street. So I had to like maneuver away to like kind of stay on the side because they still keep the walkways open for people who want to navigate around the park. But everybody’s like staying put now. Because now all of the lights on Main Street are dimmed, the castle is not lit up, so you can’t really see too well. And then they start the thing. They be like, “Merry Christmas!” It’s really pretty. And then “Whoa!” the castles lit. And then there’s snow.

Ariel Landrum 31:53
Ah…

Stefanie Bautista 31:55
They do the snow there at the lighting of the castle. And then you know, it’s about maybe like a five, maybe eight minute thing. And you know, everybody is like, “Oh my gosh!” Like once the snow came down. Everybody just started to get up and go all sorts of directions. So we had to stay put and let all of that happen and then wait. And we had no choice but to just go to Tomorrowland because it was like people leaving people coming people going everywhere. People taking pictures, like….

Ariel Landrum 32:29
They’re like mad dashing to their their party.

Stefanie Bautista 32:32
Yeah. And like people who knew that the park was gonna close at six or seven for them. They were trying to get to whatever rides they wanted to go to like right beforehand. And yeah, I would say like for the first hour or two, maybe first two or three hours, it was pretty busy.

Ariel Landrum 32:49
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 32:50
After that. It was deserted. It was like a night and day difference between once everybody’s going in the park and then once everybody’s left and it’s just the ticketed people.

Ariel Landrum 33:04
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 33:04
Then it felt like what I was expecting, but you had to kind of go through that in order to experience it.

Ariel Landrum 33:11
So really, there wouldn’t have been any time to enjoy the park from five to seven the like going on rides are really doing anything.

Stefanie Bautista 33:21
No, no, not I mean. Yes. If you have specific things in mind.

Ariel Landrum 33:27
Well, small things.

Stefanie Bautista 33:29
Yeah, small things like in you know, like Jungle Cruise…

Ariel Landrum 33:32
And Tiki Room.

Stefanie Bautista 33:33
Yeah at the Tiki Room. Even if you’re going all the way to holiday Haunted Mansion, I think that line started to dwindle pretty fast, because it’s so far in the park, that people you know, don’t really like tend to go there too much. And it was getting cold really, really fast. So if you were not prepared for the day, you were already making your way out like at 6:30 or 7.

Ariel Landrum 33:53
So it’s now I don’t want to say dead but it’s quiet and it’s quieted down. You headed to Tomorrowland was there room and space at the parties to move around and enjoy yourselves? And how did your evening unfold?

Stefanie Bautista 34:07
Yeah, so our evening kind of unfolded like we we just made like a circle. I think that’s what happed. We just made like a circle.

Ariel Landrum 34:16
And for anyone who has watched any of the shows on Disney+ in regards to making the parks, they they are they are spokes and wheels is essentially how they’re described. And that this was inspired from a lot of the roads in France. So everything branches out from a middle and those are also essentially circular. No, they’re not perfect circles. But it’s it’s around object here and here and here in the spokes in the wheel.

Stefanie Bautista 34:45
Yes, yes, very true. And yeah, because we always known that Tomorrowland is like always pretty dead. Because I feel like it’s the most it’s the the least recently updated part of the park. Tomorrowland is always like our go to if we need a breather, if you know like we just need a lot of seating. And we just kind of want to get away from everyone Finding Nemo is still closed. So the only rides that you can go on are Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, and Space Mountain. So we go there. They have a DJ there. And the DJ was spinning from the top of the oh my gosh, what is it called the Carousel of Progress.

Ariel Landrum 35:30
Oh.

Stefanie Bautista 35:32
Yeah. So there’s a balcony there at the Carousel Progress, the Carousel Progress that was modeled after you know the the World’s Fair stuff. It’s still there. It’s still functioning but it’s not like an actual thing anymore. It used to be that used to have like all these exhibits in there but the DJ was spinning up there. I thought they were going to be at the little area in front of the restaurant were like Darth Vader in them used to do their like, like little show…

Ariel Landrum 36:00
In Jedi kid camp training. Yeah…

Stefanie Bautista 36:03
Yeah, but you’ll find in every single party, all of the musicians are high above.

Ariel Landrum 36:08
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 36:09
None of them are ground level. They’re all above and I’ll explain that for the other parts to but it was really nice because it ensures everyone is still social distancing. And you’re not getting like a big crowd getting too close to the performers who are there you know performing all night. So the carousel progress was a Disney Merries Nites merchandise spot. So they tell you what’s available in the front and then if you say, “Yeah, I want to go buy something,” they let you in. And it’s like a little like a little area on the first floor of it. You can kind of see that there’s still Star Wars and Marvel stuff beyond but. Like you can’t go into that area at all. Basically just pick what you want. You had a choice of the Merries Nites jersey a t shirt, a special pin. And I think they were out of the either mug or tumbler and they were out of something else. I forgot what it was but I ended up getting a long sleeve Merries Nites like jersey.

Ariel Landrum 37:07
Nice…

Stefanie Bautista 37:08
And the pin. That’s what it looks like.

Ariel Landrum 37:11
For our listeners Mickey and Minnie. Their strolling has I think from what I can see the Disneyland font old school font. And it’s in that old, very Victorian sort of font and says Merries Nites. There’s a tree and it says Disneyland 2021. And the tree is that little twig tree that makes me think of when Mickey and Minnie did the you know how there’s like those themed Christmas tropes. And this is the one where he like buys her like a chain for her locket it but in order to get it he like sells his pipe and she like sells her. Her locket it to get him like a troubadour for his pipe. And it was like giving up these precious things because the person is most precious to us what matters in the holiday sort of theme thing. They had that tiny sort of twig tree that would like to block sticks in the pin. Very adorable. Very nice. Oh a square. Not rectangle shaped pin.

Stefanie Bautista 38:14
Yeah, rectangle shape. Yep, yep, yep. Yeah, so we ended up getting just getting those two things. This pin was a special edition. So it’s $18. $18 the jersey I think was like I think 30, 32 $35.

Ariel Landrum 38:31
And what’s the jersey look like?

Stefanie Bautista 38:34
That I can actually get it for you. So it’ll be I’m going to have to do like a super zoom in because of my filter. I don’t know if you can see that.

Ariel Landrum 38:42
Also says Merries Nites and the pretty font some sparkly stars the castle. I can’t tell you that in the corners that Jessie and Tiana? Oh, no, it is. It’s Coco. Okay, it is Miguel. Like I said her virtual background trying to blur everything out.

Stefanie Bautista 39:00
Yeah sorry.

Ariel Landrum 39:01
But I do see a giant hat that’s red. Like we Jesse. We see Elsa on there for Frozen says 2021 on a little bulb. We got Buzz Lightyear with a Santa hat on. And then Mickey Minnie and their vintage garb, the same one that they’re wearing in the pin. Er, and then there’s their Stitch, ah he’s wearing a Santa outfit with the beard and everything.

Stefanie Bautista 39:29
Yeah. And then in the middle is the castle. Very lovely.

Ariel Landrum 39:32
And it’s red.

Stefanie Bautista 39:33
Yes. Very, very red. This one was $39.99 It was close. Yeah, so those are the two things that I got. And yeah, so we kind of did a circle. Sadly, Small World was still closed at this time, because it’s November 30. And apparently there was a flood.

Ariel Landrum 39:55
Yeah, that was in the news.

Stefanie Bautista 39:58
There was a flood that damaged a lot of stuff so it was supposed to open when Merries Nites opened on November 11, at least. But by November 30, it was so close. So I was kind of bummed out.

Ariel Landrum 40:10
I will say for people if they haven’t gone to Disneyland during the holidays, they changed the song.

Stefanie Bautista 40:15
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 40:17
Something I didn’t know until staff took me for the holidays because it would not have occurred to me to go to Disneyland for the holidays. And they are not singing, It’s a Small World. They are singing instead…

Stefanie Bautista 40:26
Jingle Bells!

Ariel Landrum 40:28
ding ding ding

Stefanie Bautista 40:32
They’re saying Jingle Bells. And it’s so so cute. And like everybody is in, in their traditional holiday where whatever you have for you know, different places. So in in the European section, they have like, you know, like a Parisian Christmas and you know, Julia Noel and they like, say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays in different languages. And you’ll see like that represented in animation and like with what they’re wearing. It’s very cute. I love it.

Ariel Landrum 40:59
And the cards at the end are also holiday cards.

Stefanie Bautista 41:03
Holiday cards, not just you know, the postcards that you’re used to seeing. I don’t know if you saw this, but this is really funny that I noticed. Oh, not there, but apparently there’s like a petition, or somebody wants to make a petition to decorate the little Filipino girl with more stuff. Cause all she’s holding is an ornament.

Ariel Landrum 41:24
Yes, yes. That is all she’s holding.

Stefanie Bautista 41:27
Okay for my our Filipino people out there. We only have one representative doll.

Ariel Landrum 41:32
Yes, just one.

Stefanie Bautista 41:34
In the island section. She’s just very cutely in her Maria Clara. And she’s just she’s been chillin there for years by herself. And you know, for Filipinos we celebrate Christmas so early. We felt we started celebrating in September. So I think somebody was just like, “Can we give her like a parol?” Which is like a paper star that is traditional in the Philippines.

Ariel Landrum 41:55
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 41:56
Or even like somebody said, “Can we like give her a lechon?” Which is like a little roasted pig?

Ariel Landrum 42:02
Yeah lechon! That would be perfect! Or some, honestly some homies…

Stefanie Bautista 42:08
Some homies!

Ariel Landrum 42:09
I don’t know many traditional Filipino families where it’s like, “It’s just me!”

Stefanie Bautista 42:13
No, you’re completely right. Give her her family.

Ariel Landrum 42:18
“Me with my little bulb that I’m holding.”

Stefanie Bautista 42:21
Yeah, so she’s still holding the bulb, and somebody is just like, “Please can we get like everyone calls her Tita Baby,” because that’s like the universal name for everyone…

Ariel Landrum 42:29
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 42:30
“Let’s give Tita Baby a little bit more love.” But I mean Disney if you’re listening I we can we can give ideas and tips and tricks. But yes, that was one of the only rides that was closed sadly because they’re still fixing everything. But everything else the train all the other rides they were they were still working.

Ariel Landrum 42:52
At Tomorrowland was was there like a dancing section? Or was it is just merchandise? So it was a DJ is just spining?

Stefanie Bautista 42:59
The DJ just spinning everyone’s vibing. Oh, and here’s the thing like all the cast members because I feel like the best songs are the best. DJ was at Disney at Tomorrowland because she was like spinning like a lot of freestyle and like, you know party music. And it was like a good change to like, not hear Disney music but your contemporary. Like not Disney, radio music but like, actual music that we like. And DJ was a woman…

Ariel Landrum 43:28
Yeah, shout out to women DJs!

Stefanie Bautista 43:31
Yeah, she was a woman of color.

Ariel Landrum 43:33
Yes!

Stefanie Bautista 43:34
She was fantastic. All the cast members who were around there were just like dancing and invite them like, “You guys have the best spot. Because A. you don’t have to do anything. You just have to stand there and tell people where to go. B. you get to listen to all these, you know, amazing songs.” So yeah, I really like that as an adult.

Ariel Landrum 43:52
Yes, yes. Okay. Okay. It was just the place of vibe, got it.

Stefanie Bautista 43:55
Yeah, place the vibe. So we go through to Fantasyland because we’re like, “Oh, let’s try going on Peter Pan.” We always try to go on Peter Pan. But that stuff is so of Peter Pan. I love you, but I hate you. Because the lines are always so long. Everyone knows it’s the best mini right at Fantasyland because you are suspended instead of just in a cart. So we go there, wait is only 30 minutes, which is good. But once we step in line the ride breaks.

Ariel Landrum 44:01
Noooooo!

Stefanie Bautista 44:17
So we left we left it instead we went to Snow White which I haven’t seen since the refurbishment and that’s when I found out people came and parties of 15. There was a party right behind us. And there were there’s only three of us and if you’ve ever been on Snow White, it’s literally a cart and you could fit in max, two and max three in the back. And that’s it. It’s very short.

Ariel Landrum 44:54
And it has like I’m gonna say like a hard stop it goes it goes dark quickly and all sudden there’s rainbows and you’re like, “What just happened?” It’s this hard stop.

Stefanie Bautista 45:04
Hard stop is right. Because you’re in a living diorama. Basically, you’re in your living diorama that moves, has lights and stuff. But yeah, I don’t know, the girl pointing it or counting out people. She had a look on her face. And I was like, “Oh may the Lord be with you. Cause this is gonna be difficult.” But yeah, you have to keep your mask on inside. If you’re on the ride. There’s a person before the person that counts you. Make sure you have your mask on you ready to pull up because you know half of the ride you’re standing outside and then once you get inside it gets you’re inside really fast. So we go on Snow White. I do appreciate all the updates that they went through. The story makes sense now. You’re not just like, “Dark dark dark, scary. Scary. Scary. Scary. Oh, all of a sudden the rides done rainbow.”

Ariel Landrum 45:53
It was a creepy ride. I’m not gonna lie.

Stefanie Bautista 45:55
Yes and…

Ariel Landrum 45:58
I didn’t know how to feel when I got off.

Stefanie Bautista 46:00
Rightfully so because it was called Snow White’s Scary Adventures. Now it’s called Snow White Enchanted Adventure.

Ariel Landrum 46:06
Ah.

Stefanie Bautista 46:08
Yes, they change the name.

Ariel Landrum 46:10
Okay. So more creatures I’m assuming?

Stefanie Bautista 46:12
More creatures more storyline. You you see the old you see? You see what happens to her. But you do see the prince going in for us sort of kiss but you don’t see it was weird. You have to you and when we go next time, I’m going to point it out to you. It’s actually quite hilarious how he like bends over and leans to kiss her because it’s a diorama. Like, it’s not even animatronic. This is just like a mannequin doing this. It’s really It’s funny. But I mean, yeah, you know, good on you, um, Disney for updating it and making the story a little bit more easier to follow.

Ariel Landrum 46:50
Yeah, but not not completely changing it by keeping it still a diorama.

Stefanie Bautista 46:54
Yeah, no, which is good. But yeah, so we went on that. And then after that, we decided to go to the B not Be Our Guest. And that’s at Disneyworld.

Ariel Landrum 47:10
Oh, that place was good, though.

Stefanie Bautista 47:12
Oh I love that place so much. Um, maybe that’s why. So we go to the restaurant that is Beauty and the Beast Themed in the corner. Right? It’s feeding. Is it Pinocchio? I don’t know. I think it’s both. But they still saw the gray stuff. It’s delicious. So that’s why I always think it’s a Beauty and the Beast, but it’s to the left to the right of Pinocchio. The Pinocchio Ride? It’s to the right of that.

Ariel Landrum 47:34
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 47:35
I really wanted the cold brew eggnog, which was one of the special food that they have.

Ariel Landrum 47:40
You said you were in a restaurant when you saw the signs change.

Stefanie Bautista 47:43
That’s the restaurant I was in. Yeah, the fast food restaurant. Yep.

Ariel Landrum 47:47
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 47:47
Um, so we were there at 6:50. And I guess they still had like regular stuff. But we knew and they already had a little card that said, you can get the cold brew eggnog here and Mickey Gingerbread, which I really, really wanted. And so we go over there and I guess we there was no people there. There was no one in there. We get enlightened. We order stuff. And apparently all the people behind us the guy at the front was like, “Oh, we’re not doing holiday stuff yet.” So we didn’t like the last ones to like go on there. I don’t know. It was kind of weird. Red Rose Tavern. That’s what it’s called.

Ariel Landrum 48:21
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 48:22
So they had a frozen flurry which is a citrus and bubblegum slush top with whipped cream candy decor and a glow cube inside. Coffee nog cold brew coffee eggnog caramel whipped cream and a gingerbread smore. Enchanted Forest fries tossed in Buffalo seasoning drizzled with ranch and top and with and topped with cotija cheese. I didn’t get the frozen flurry or the forest fries, because I didn’t see it on the menu.

Ariel Landrum 48:45
Oh.

Stefanie Bautista 48:46
We order and our food is taking a really really long time.

Ariel Landrum 48:51
And all you got was the coffee.

Stefanie Bautista 48:52
All I got was the coffee and like the regular items. So it was like chicken tenders, and a flat bar a flatbread pizza, which is like their regular items.

Ariel Landrum 49:02
Still offered along with the holiday stuff?

Stefanie Bautista 49:04
Yes, but the menu only had the regular stuff. It’s just the cold eggnog, which I knew I wanted was on the side. And I guess it was another menu? I don’t know. I don’t know. But I was just like, “Give me the cold room. I’m fading right now. I need coffee.” And so it’s taking a really, really long time maybe like 20 minutes, which is not normal for a fast you know, like the what do you call it?

Ariel Landrum 49:26
Cafeteria.

Stefanie Bautista 49:28
Cafeteria style food! Yes, thank you. So apparently, no one knew how to make the cold brew back there.

Ariel Landrum 49:36
It’s as cold brew should already be made.

Stefanie Bautista 49:40
A will because it came with eggnog caramel whipped cream, AJ told me that there was a huge argument in the back and he saw it all happen. That no one knew how to make it and they had to find somebody who knew how to make it but that person was still coming on their shif. So they had to and there was like, seven now eight now nine tickets have cold brew, and it’s inching closer and closer to seven o’clock when they did and they did the shift change, which is I think kind of messed everything up. So our food was already kind of cold when we got it but I was just like what happened? He’s like, “No one knew how to make the drink.”

Ariel Landrum 50:15
Dang cause they were like, “Morning crew don’t have to learn it’s night crew.” Got it. Got it.

Stefanie Bautista 50:19
It’s Merriest Nites crew. Merriest Nites crew has to know.

Ariel Landrum 50:21
See that’s why you always have a bridge crew man. You always have one that that straddles the line between both.

Stefanie Bautista 50:27
I mean, it could have been a one off. Who knows. But I mean, it is one of the smaller fast food issue restaurants there. So I guess they weren’t tripping about it too much. And I mean, it’s cold brew eggnog caremel… AJ was like, “I’m gonna go back there and make it myself.” I mean, it’s not that difficult, but I mean, I get it. It was delicious, though. I think it was the best thing that I had there.

Ariel Landrum 50:50
Once the homie who knew how to make it came. They knew how to make it.

Stefanie Bautista 50:54
Once the homie we knew how to make a came, he knew how to make it. So it was so so good. I don’t like eggnog, everyone, I really don’t. I never liked it. I tried. I really, when we used to work, you know as baristas I would try to like, spice it up or whatever. Ariel would do her thing. I just don’t like it. It’s too it’s too thick without being a milkshake for me. So the cold brew was so good. And I think now because they have their own coffee provider, the Joffrey’s coffee that they had at Walt Disneyworld, now that they’re everywhere at Disneyland, I think they just solely provide the coffee there at the park. So it was super good, the gingerbread was really good. And we were on our way. Try not to go during the shift change everyone.

Ariel Landrum 51:35
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 51:36
It kind of it sucks. And you’ll wait a long time. But after that, I think that’s the whole theme of this thing is like, you have to get through the transition of Disneyland goers and regular Disney day to be able to, you know, reap the benefits of what you paid for.

Ariel Landrum 51:55
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 51:55
And you kind of just have to stick it out. Because they do offer a lot for you. It’s just, you have to, if you are going to get there early, you have to kind of go through all of that, let them do their thing, and then you can enjoy the party.

Ariel Landrum 52:08
And that goes back to when we talked in this episode, in regards to anyone who has anxiety, the biggest thing to address anxiety is creating moments of transition and accepting that there are moments of transition. And that anytime things feel pushed or forced or forgotten, that anxiety usually builds. So if you if it sounds like for this event, if you go in accepting that that the whole park is in transition, that’s why it feels chaotic or confusing. It’s not because you’ve done something wrong or forgotten something or your anxiety lying to you. It’s that is the transition time or we’re just feeling the flow.

Stefanie Bautista 52:45
And transitions are hard for everyone. Transitioning and that is like a big thing in the classroom too. Even transitioning from a math lesson to language arts lesson, you have to have that like five minute like, “Let’s take a break we are we are transitioning into another thing. If you want to stretch, if you want to do something that you know makes you feel comfortable, you go ahead and do that.” Any sort of transition is difficult for anybody, no matter who you are. Whatever, you know, parameters you’re give yourself transitioning is hard.

Ariel Landrum 53:13
Very hard.

Stefanie Bautista 53:14
Just like when you’re transitioning from real world to Disneyland world. From regular day to holiday in your face. You have to give yourself that grace, you have to give yourself you know, a little bit of space. And you know, for us we know the nooks and crannies of every land. So we knew the Red Rose Tavern was a good place to eat because it’s not a sit down restaurant, we know that it’s you know, cafeteria style almost. And we could chill there inside. You know, we knew these things already from the past. So it helped us make that decision to be like this is where we’re going to eat and chill before we go on about our day.

Ariel Landrum 53:51
And it sounds like there’s even acceptance because, “Okay, we knew that this is a place where you can chill and it’s usually efficient. It isn’t today, it’s not because we’ve done something wrong or we’re not being explicit or that our expectations are too high is that it’s there in transition.”

Stefanie Bautista 54:07
Yeah. Yeah. And it’s not Disney’s fault either. I think it’s not their fault that you know, things will be lost in translation if you’ve ever worked food service from the day crew to the night crew. Especially if you’re doing an event which they are already loaded with all this information about how to process all of these foods and things like that that are specific to the event. So you know it’s it was all learning experience. I got my coffee. I was happy. So we yeah, we went on down to where did we go next? Oh, I really wanted to go to New Orleans because they had a jazz band playing on the Mark Twain.

Ariel Landrum 54:46
Ohhhhh!

Stefanie Bautista 54:47
And it takes you around. And I thought this whole time it was like someone dressed as Tianna singing and I would have died because I would have loved that so so much, but it’s just a band which was equally as good. She was fantastic. She did sound like Tiana because it’s very hard to see where the stage was on the Mark Twain. So the Mark Twain is the riverboat that you if you’re familiar with, you know the area, it’s replicated after a real steamboat. It is a real steamboat. It powers on steam. But it’s a smaller version of like the ones you see in you know, the south. But there’s the. Help me with the boat terms because I’m not quite familiar. The front of the boat is called the…

Ariel Landrum 55:30
The bow.

Stefanie Bautista 55:31
Okay. So the bow, held the band. So it was a jazz band had upright bass, a guitarist, the singer, and a drummer, and they blocked all of that off, and everybody else gets to see. So really, the best seats were just in front of the ropes on that same level. Everywhere else, you could hear her completely fine, but you just couldn’t see her. Even if you were at the balcony, which we tried to do looking down. it’s very hard to see because there’s you know, ropes in the way and like, you know, the actual boat. A good opportunity for my son to kind of run around the boat safely. And you know, everybody was just like really vibing and like, you know, listen to jazz music. It was all jazzy renditions of holiday songs. Very lovely and nice. It takes you around. And you’ll see you know, the dioramas that are there around the Rivers of America. And when you come back down like that’s, that’s basically the show. And it’s cool, because once you get off of the boat, you’re right in front of the Golden Horseshoe, which is either Western, and the mariachi band for Feliz Navidad that is on top.

Ariel Landrum 56:37
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 56:38
They’re on the top balcony. And they were so fun!

Ariel Landrum 56:42
From jazz to mariachi.

Stefanie Bautista 56:44
Mariachi, and I love their energy because like, they were seeing their grito, and all that stuff. And they, they seem like all of these musicians were I feel like they’re actual musicians like outside. They’re not just hired, you know, they don’t just work for Disney, but their actual musicians. They perform as such. So they’re all very high quality level musicians. And then after that, we sped around, we didn’t write any rights at this point, everyone. Besides Snow White, we were just like, let’s do all the holiday stuff first, and then maybe get to our rights. We went around to Adventureland. And we did our first photo op there. So every land has a light up larger than life postcard.

Ariel Landrum 57:28
Ah.

Stefanie Bautista 57:30
And that larger than life postcard, you get in line and then they snap your pictures and then they just show up after you scan your photo pass. And all of the postcards were designed by Disney animators who have art at Wunderground. Okay, so shout out to a friend of a friend Ann Shen who does a lot of they’re really cute when she did the Mele Kalikimaka one at Adventureland and it was Jumba and Pleakley. And they’re decorating the Christmas tree. And that was situated where the strollers usually are at Jungle Cruise. So to the left. And right above there was the two Hawaiian musicians, a singer and his partner with a ukulele and they were singing holiday songs in Hawaiian. And…

Ariel Landrum 58:17
So duet.

Stefanie Bautista 58:18
Yeah, duet. It was very nice and calm and their holiday treats were at the tropical hideaway so you could get a… It was a very very sweet dole whip. I couldn’t really get through this one because it was very sweet. Paradise party float blue pineapple juice topped with watermelon dole whip.

Ariel Landrum 58:41
Oh, I love watermelon. Oh, I wouldn’t think to do that for a holiday event. I would think immediately summer so that’s really cool.

Stefanie Bautista 58:50
Yeah. And they topped it with like a orchid. It was very cute. Um, the blue pineapple juice is too sweet for me, but I love the watermelon dole whip. That was super super good. Those were the two big things that I wanted to do. I wanted to do Mele Kalikimaka and I wanted to see the Muppets do their show…

Ariel Landrum 59:09
But wait, did you see Lilo and Stitch?

Stefanie Bautista 59:12
Oh yes, I did. Oh my gosh, I totally forgot.

Ariel Landrum 59:15
These are Stef’s charaters!

Stefanie Bautista 59:18
Yes these are my characters. These are the these are my people. People okay, I guess this is another thing I can mention people start lining up for character pictures really really early. Lilo and Stitch we’re on the down steps of the exit of Enchanted Tiki Room.

Ariel Landrum 59:32
Oh gorgeous.

Stefanie Bautista 59:33
Yeah beautiful. And they had like the tiki torches lit up and all that stuff. And they they both had like… Stitch was dressesed as Santa and then Lilo had lei around her and she was you know in her dress. Very cute. But the line was so long.

Ariel Landrum 59:47
Oh, no.

Stefanie Bautista 59:49
So long. You wrapped around all the way to the front of the Tiki Room and I was like, “Oh…” And at this point, it’s already like eight And we’re like, “Okay, we got to like, do other things. We want to see the parade. We want to see the Muppets,” and I was just like, I just took a picture of them even take a picture with them. To the side. It was a little sad, but you know what? It’s fine. I guess I’ll just have to go to Aulani.

Ariel Landrum 1:00:15
Yes, yes, you definitely do. I mean, you had to either way.

Stefanie Bautista 1:00:19
But yes, a lot of the people especially for like Miguel, and for Elsa and Tiana. People were lining up really, really early to do these character photo. We just walked on over to Main Street. Because all the shows were starting all the shows happened between like eight or nine o’clock. So the Muppets came around in the bus. The double decker like, I guess it’s a bus, right?

Ariel Landrum 1:00:45
Yes. Yeah. It’s like a London double decker bus. And that’s really cool because the windows are arched similar to like, I think when I think of The Muppet Show.

Stefanie Bautista 1:00:54
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 1:00:54
So that’s perfect. That’s perfect for puppeteering.

Stefanie Bautista 1:00:57
Perfect. We’re puppeteering the stop right in front of Walt in Mickey statue. So if you wanted to watch it, they like roped off an area like right in front. My son loves Sesame Street and he loves puppets. And ‘kay, we did not get the greatest seats because obviously everybody was like, Oh, I’m gonna sit here like forever, like, you know, true Disneyland fashion.

Ariel Landrum 1:01:19
Just parking it.

Stefanie Bautista 1:01:20
I’m just parking it three hours early, even though the vents only five. So we were like to the side under the umbrellas near the Jolly Holiday. And I forget that my eyesight is a POS. I need my glasses to see. But my son has perfect vision. He is a baby. He’s one years old. He has perfect vision. He sees things that I have no idea what’s going on. So we we have him on my husband shoulders. And he is just locked in like locked in the whole entire time, just like in awe that are these things that are puppeting at him. He is not reacting. He’s like, I don’t know if he’s happy. And he’s just locked in.

Ariel Landrum 1:02:05
Hyper focusing. Puppets.

Stefanie Bautista 1:02:08
He’s just hyper focus. Just like I was trying to take cute pictures of that. No, he was just like, dead face serious. He’s never seen a puppet show before like, all the puppets he’s interacted with through the TV, YouTube. So I think just seeing that and next time if we ever go I want to get up close. Because just seeing the Muppets live, I think is so special. I mean, those characters truly come to life. You really do forget that there’s just a hand in those pieces of fabric.

Ariel Landrum 1:02:36
What did they sing?

Stefanie Bautista 1:02:38
They did a whole bit. It was a whole comedy bit.

Ariel Landrum 1:02:40
Yes!

Stefanie Bautista 1:02:41
They incorporated holiday songs and be like, Oh, this is our next song. But then like, Fozzie would go missing or like Pepe would say something stupid and Kermit and like, Miss Piggy would be like, she would be arguing and like barking. It was like, very classic Muppet banter, but incorporating holiday songs. And it was it was just so cute. They even they had the eagle I forget his name….

Ariel Landrum 1:03:06
Sam.

Stefanie Bautista 1:03:07
Yeah, Sam. Yep. Beaker was there. Dr. Honey Do the honeydew melon. Yeah, yeah, they’re all there. Gonzo was there. Of course Pepe was there Fozzie was there.

Ariel Landrum 1:03:20
Any of the the chickens.

Stefanie Bautista 1:03:21
All the chickens were there just bawk bawk bawking. I think the whole like bit was at their bus broke down. And they were on their way to somewhere. And then Dr. Honeydew was supposed to, like try to fix it and whatever. But in the interim, they like seeing their holiday songs. So…

Ariel Landrum 1:03:38
Aas was Chef there because he’s my favorite.

Stefanie Bautista 1:03:41
You know, I think he was in the back. So like, because it’s like a double decker. The bottom one housed more Muppets than the top deck. Because the top deck, you know, you could only see some and Pepe was on the top. That was a you can’t see he’s so small.

Ariel Landrum 1:03:53
Pure king prawn.

Stefanie Bautista 1:03:54
Yeah. I mean, that was the highlight for me. I mean, my son loved it. Like I everybody loved that they do. They did like four shows throughout. So you could always go. But there was also the Holiday Parade, which was like, cool. I haven’t seen a parade in a really long time. But it’s still the same parade that they do every year. Nothing special. Nothing new. But yeah, like it was it was nice to see that in a much more intimate setting. And at this point around eight o’clock. Everyone going on rides, they check your wristband and they check your lanyard. So if you did not have a lanyard or a wristband, you would be asked, “Hey, the park is actually closed for you know, the date and it’s just for special ticketed, you know, event holders.” So they would just, I guess, politely ask you to leave.

Ariel Landrum 1:04:41
What do you think made this event special or sets it apart from some of the maybe the other holiday events.

Stefanie Bautista 1:04:47
The ambitiousness of having six different holiday parties? I think that sets it apart. Definitely. With all the different themes that they’re able to do. Also as inclusive as they’re trying to be with, you know, Tiana’s celebration and Miguel’s celebration and Lilo and Stitch’s a celebration. I think it’s a really good way to explore those worlds and when you wouldn’t be able to otherwise in, you know, their special holiday setting. Because holidays are so special to certain cultures. And I mean, even the inclusion of like Nordic cultures with Elsa and Ana. Oh, what’s his name was there. The bad guy? The Prince.

Ariel Landrum 1:05:31
Hans?!

Stefanie Bautista 1:05:32
Yes, he was there.

Ariel Landrum 1:05:35
Ewww!

Stefanie Bautista 1:05:36
I think I actively said “Ewww,” too when I saw him, and I’m like, “What’s this guy doing here? I don’t like him.”

Ariel Landrum 1:05:42
I guess you always have people come over holiday you don’t really want there. That might be an accurate representation of, “He had to be invited. Our kingdoms trade.”

Stefanie Bautista 1:05:58
Oh my gosh, that is. You are totally right. We we ended up staying until midnight. Because we wanted to ride Haunted Mansion, which we did. And it’s still Haunted Mansion from Halloween. So that’s that’s so really special.

Ariel Landrum 1:06:21
So when you say from Halloween is it that it is basically a Nightmare Before Christmas?

Stefanie Bautista 1:06:27
Basically Nightmare Before Christmas. Jack and Sally are on the top again saying, “Hi!” And “Happy holidays.” So that was nice. Um, you could I feel like there were more opportunities to you know, intimately as much as possible take pictures with characters. You saw Donald as the Scrooge walking around.

Ariel Landrum 1:06:49
Oh!

Stefanie Bautista 1:06:51
And goofy and Chippendale as the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future.

Ariel Landrum 1:06:58
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 1:06:59
So really a lot of like, tie backs to Christmas specials that Disney you know, animation has and things that you just normally wouldn’t see. I think that’s the most special part about going to a ticketed event like this is that you could use you see rare things that you don’t normally see in a regular Disney Day. I think the $165 price point you’re getting. You’re getting unlimited photos, but you have to take advantage of it. So if you’re not taking advantage of it, you know, you kind of are at a loss there. You get special shows. You get live music six different ways. You get a giveaway of a lanyard and you also at the end when you exit the park. They give you postcards one that was from each and every photo op.

Ariel Landrum 1:07:46
Oh!

Stefanie Bautista 1:07:48
So spoiler alert in your Christmas gift Ariel I gave you postcards! From the event!

Ariel Landrum 1:07:56
Ahh postcards! yeah!

Stefanie Bautista 1:08:00
I’m not going to spoil the other part but I gave you the postcards that we got from Merriest Nites because obviously we got three of put three packs. So if you open that side of your present. You’ll see you have the postcards too. Yeah, and I did not I kept them pristine for you. Because they’re so all the animations are so lovely. And you can display them. I think I want to display my set in like, you know, a case or something or like even just in a binder because they’re really, really nice. And I did not expect that gift. Going out of the park, they were like, “Stop.” And I’m like. “Ahh I’m trying to leave!” And they’re like, “Here you go.” And I was like, “What?” And it was dark. So I couldn’t see anything. I’m like, “What is this?” With my old lady like squint. I was like, “Oh my gosh, they’re postcards from every land!” So, um, I don’t, I don’t guarantee that they’re gonna do the same lands next year. They might mix it up to you know, keep it fresh. But I think from a souvenir standpoint, from an experience standpoint, and even from a foodie standpoint, you’re kind of getting all of those experiences rolled into one because there are a lot of things that I didn’t get to try that andouille sausage poboy that they had in New Orleans Square. I didn’t get to have the Thanksgiving leftover burger that they had at Tomorrowland. They had gingerbread fraps, they had special waffle fries. They had seasonal beignets. They had blueberry lemonade. Like they had this churro ice cream, it was a lot so you could seriously hone in on like one experience and just do that and then your time is up.

Ariel Landrum 1:09:35
Something to just go back to for the Elsa experience. What was the music like? Or did you get a chance to go?

Stefanie Bautista 1:09:42
I didn’t get to experience that one too much. I know that Elsa and the Frozen characters were at the there’s like a little step above. On your way to It’s a Small World. You remember that right where it’s like the lights that they usually use for the parade when it comes back. It’s like a little step like two steps up like a little, like, what do you call it? Metal, I guess a plaza of some sort. So they’re just hanging out there. There wasn’t any musicians, though. I think they did, which is similar to what the Victorian Christmas was on Main Street is that they had music playing. So it was like Frozen-ish music, like music from the movies. And you know, you could, because you could actually go up and talk to Elsa and Ana.

Ariel Landrum 1:10:26
Oh.

Stefanie Bautista 1:10:27
I feel like it was more intimate. And also because small world was closed. You really just enjoyed their presence. And you know, that winter wonderland.

Ariel Landrum 1:10:38
So we really, it sounds very intentionally diverse, diverse music and not just diverse music, but even in how it’s being presented. Because you have a DJ, you have a mariachi band, you have a jazz band, you have a duet, that that sounds very cognizant and thoughtful. And it sounds like really opportunity. Like if you just didn’t ride any of them rides at all, you would have still felt that you got your money’s worth.

Stefanie Bautista 1:11:05
Absolutely. Yeah, it’s a it’s a true entertainment experience. And it’s layered, very, very layered. I believe that they will bring this back next year. But you know, just go into the experience knowing that you will have to deal with transitions, you will have to deal with not thinking you did enough. But also try to just pick a couple things like you know, you usually do in a Disney trip and try to do those and you’ll be good.

Ariel Landrum 1:11:35
Yeah, your non negotiables. And looking at it as because it’s still a new event, even if it happens again next year, they’re still working out a lot of the kinks to see if how viable and how to make it more efficient. Well, thank you, everyone, for joining us. And thank you, Stef, for sharing your merriest night with us.

Stefanie Bautista 1:11:53
My merriest night in November. Yes, so we hope you all have a really good and safe holiday season. We are so happy that you have chosen us to listen to. We are so very grateful that you know there are plenty of Disney podcasts out there. But you know, a lot of the feedback that we’ve gotten make it really special for us to continue to do this. And know that even though we go through seasons in our lives too, so we are still wanting to create you know more content more episodes for you guys, but in the spirit of expectations and being good to yourself. We do want to take care of ourselves too as much as we want you all to take care of yourselves.

Ariel Landrum 1:12:38
Yes, if you went to Merriest Nites, like Stef did. If you think they should bring it back. If you think Tita Baby should have something more than a bulb. Go ahead and tweet at us @HappiestPodGT or DM us on Instagram @HappiestPodGT.

Stefanie Bautista 1:12:59
Yep. Happy holidays everyone and Happy New Year.

Ariel Landrum 1:13:02
Happy holidays. Bye!

Stefanie Bautista 1:13:03
Bye!

Media/Characters Mentioned
  • Frozen
  • Anna
  • Elsa
  • Hans
  • Miguel
  • Lilo
  • Stitch
  • Enchanted Tiki Room
  • Buzz Lightyear
  • Princess Tiana
  • Mickey Mouse
  • Minnie Mouse
  • The Muppets
  • Miss Piggy
  • Kermit
  • Fozzie Bear
  • Pepe
  • Gonzo
  • The Chef
  • Dr. Honeydew
  • Bunsen Beaker

Topics/Themes Mentioned
  • Holidays
  • Music
  • Tradition
  • Diversity
  • Family
  • Festival
  • Transitions
  • Celebrating
  • Mangaging expectations

Questions? Comments? Discuss this episode on the GT Forum.

—

 Website: happy.geektherapy.com
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 | Stef on Twitter: @stefa_kneee | Ariel on Instagram: @airyell3000 |

Geek Therapy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit with the mission of advocating for the effective and meaningful use of popular media in therapeutic, educational, and community practice.
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Welcome to The Happiest Pod on Earth! On the Geek Therapy Network we believe that the best way to understand each other, and ourselves, is through the media we care about. On this show, we focus exclusively on Disney!

Hosted by Stefanie Bautista and Ariel Landrum!

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